Fred, Gunn and Cordelia had moved out onto the large patio of Cordelia's suite, to get some air. Cordelia had just gotten done with the story up to the defeat of the Master, as she looked down at the cars zooming by during rush hour traffic in LA.
"So, you and Alex didn't go to the Prom with the others?" Fred asked.
"No. No we didn't," Cordelia said, as she moved from the railing to a plastic patio chair. She enjoyed the feeling of the light breeze through her hair before she continued, "I took the big dummy to the hospital. He checked out fine, just a little banged up. Alex then wanted me to go off to join the others at the Prom, but he didn't want to go himself since Harmony was going to be there. So, I decided to stay with him."
She continued, "One of the hospital rent-a-cops had a dad who worked for Alex's family, so he let us go on the roof of the hospital to hang out. We brought a radio, and the jerk found some station that played some dumb spaghetti music, as we just talked looking up at the stars from twelve floors up. We talked about everything and nothing. His family, my family, even about the fight we'd had when we were little kids. Turns out he didn't remember what it was about anymore than I did."
An almost shy look comes across Cordelia's face. "Then the radio started to play classical music. Alex told me he wasn't going to rob Cordelia Chase of her Prom Night, so right then and there he asked me to dance. We totally and completely lost track of the time just dancing, and before we knew it the sun was coming up. That was one of, if not the best nights of my life."
Ms. Chase looked to her two friends. "One thing above all else I learned about life, is that you don't remember the big things like you think you will. You remember the moments. Even the smallest ones. Being up there that night, dancing to every song that came on the radio, and just the look in his eyes as he stared at me...I can't explain how great that felt. If we'd been in a romantic movie or whatever, that's the point where we would have lived happily ever after and the credits would have rolled."
"But I'm gettin' the impression that that's not how it turned out," Gunn commented.
"Well, actually, no – for a while, it was pretty damn good," Cordelia told him with a slight smirk. "Alex broke up with Harmony the next day, when she came to find him and demand to know why he never showed at the Prom. And funny thing, he never told me just how he finally managed to get rid of her..."
***
FLASHBACK
June 1st, 1997
Sunnydale General Hospital
"Cordelia?!?" Harmony yelled, as her voice carried in the parking lot where she had cornered Alex. "You were with that bitch all last night!?"
"Don't call her that!" Alex yelled back. "And it's not like you're making it sound! I was in the hospital, for crying out loud!"
Harmony gave him a look of anger, mixed with cruel amusement. "Since when did you start growing a backbone? You do NOT yell at me, Alexander Harris! Do you know how much damage control I'm going to have to do, to cover the fact that my BOYFRIEND didn't show up at my Prom!?"
"Harmony, will you cut it out?! My God, but I'm sick of this. And you didn't want me there anyway!" Alex yelled back. "Why didn't you just take that college guy you were making out with, under the bleachers? You know, the one you made fun of me to?"
The blond didn't flinch. "Is that supposed to impress me, that you know I was making out with a real man? You know the drill, you idiot, we've discussed this before. I'm only with you until we graduate high school! After that, you've served your purpose. Come on, I'm Harmony Kendall! I have the BEST, and only the best! And at this thing we laughingly call a high school, you happen to be the most popular guy..."
"Okay, Harm, lemme put it like this. If you don't really give a crap about me beyond the sake of appearances, then why the hell do you care who I spent the evening dancing with!?" he demanded.
Harmony was getting annoyed at his attitude. "Do I have to remind you why you're going to do exactly what I say, when I say it!?"
The guy suddenly looked uneasy. "I didn't do anything wrong, and you know it! You were the one who came over, you were the one who even brought the condoms..."
A predatory smile came over Harmony's face. "It doesn't matter what really happened, dummy. It doesn't matter that I came over to your house because I was bored, and decided to have sex with you. And hell, you weren't even that good! I've had better, before and since..."
She then put on an act of total innocence, and gave her voice a schoolgirl quality to it. "All that'll matter is when I tell my dear old daddy, that the big mean old football player raped me. Oh, he forced me daddy! He came over and I kept saying no, but he didn't stop! I was waiting for my wedding night, I swear, but Alex raped me daddy..."
Harmony laughed at his pissed-off face. "Now, who are they gonna believe, Alex? The dumb jock, or the cheerleader who is just so traumatized by his vicious attack? Just think of it, every girl you'd ever talk to afterwards would wonder to herself, 'Did he really do it? Would he do that to me too?' Alex, face facts. I so own your ass!"
The blond girl was slightly surprised though, when his frown turned into a bigger grin than the one she had. She then watched as the quarterback calmly got into his car and started the engine, and wondered what the heck the other teen thought he was doing, turning his back on her.
Alex then looked out the open window to the manipulative creature, "All right, Harmony. Go ahead. Go call your dad, and lie to him that I raped you last year. In fact, I hope he does have me arrested! It will just dig you in deeper..."
"You think I won't, you horse's ass?!" Harmony raged full force at him. "You think you're going to make me believe that you don't care, that no one will believe me? Bullshit! I'm Harmony Kendall! Everyone loves me!"
The male teenager just watched her rant without flinching. "Have a nice life, Harmony. I hope you find that rich guy you're after, who can turn you into that trophy wife you so want to become some day. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to be somewhere."
"Where? Another meeting with that slut!?"
"No. The only slut I know right now, I'm talking to her..." Alex told his ex, which enraged Harmony more than he thought he'd ever seen her. "But if you must know, I have to go make copies."
This surprised her. "Copies?"
Alex reached into his pants pocket, and pulled out a small silver mini-tape recorder. Harmony grew quiet, as she saw the two black prongs turning the tape as the red recording light was on.
"I hereby solemnly swear that this tape was made by me, Alexander Lavelle Harris, on June 1st 1997 at the Sunnydale General Hospital parking lot at approximately 10 am. With me is Harmony Kendall, who had no prior knowledge up until now I was taping our conversation. Do you understand that for the record, you have spoken all of these words of your own free will, Harmony?"
The cheerleader looked stunned. "I – yes, I – what?" Then the murderous rage came into her eyes. "YOU SON OF A-"
Alex enjoyed the look on her face for a moment, as he switched off the tape. "Now, lemme make this real clear for you, Harm. You will leave me and Cordelia alone, from now on. And for the hell of it, you and your sheep will also leave Cordy's friends alone as well. If I hear any evil rumors spread around about me or anyone who I just mentioned, or you try to do the false rape thing? Then this tape gets sent to your parents, the police, and everyone at the country club. Do we understand each other?"
With a smirk, Alex Harris hit the button that brought the car window up, and Harmony saw the utterly shocked look on her face reflected in it as he drove away.
END FLASHBACK
****
"So, anyway, Harmony and Alex broke up, and I have to tell you I'd never seen him happier," Cordelia said. "And man, a lot of people were shocked when we started to officially dating! For a week, it was heaven."
"Why only a week?" Fred wondered.
Cordy frowned. "School ended for the year. He went off to a football training camp, while I went to Tuscany with my family."
"That sucks," Fred deadpanned. "You guys just get together, then you get split up for three months?"
"Well, not the entire three months," Cordelia said with a gleam in her eye. "His football thing was only for two months. So afterwards, Alex flew over to Italy to meet with us. We backpacked through most of the country, and even went over into Greece for a month. I swear, when we got to one of the islands – Naxos, it was called – I was sure my life couldn't get any better..."
She saw their looks and shrugged. "No tourists, monolingual locals and beautiful weather. Of course Daddy instead we carry a GPS tracker with us, but otherwise it was just the two of us."
"The two of you, all alone?" Gunn asked, surprised. "Your parents actually let you go off with the guy, like unchaperoned?"
"Well, my mom had always kinda liked him. And she knew how I felt about him...she just told me to think carefully, when we were off together." She shrugged. "Besides that, she knew we'd be okay – he knew Greek pretty well, and I can speak fluent Italian. Che parla italiano fluente..."
Fred seemed stuck on something. "So, so, you and your first crush were alone for a long time, right? Did you two-?" the former physicist stopped, not knowing how to phrase the question without making herself sound like a pervert.
Cordelia saved her. "You mean, did we have sex?"
Gunn smirked, as Fred blushed and nodded.
"Well," Cordelia said slowly. "I'm not ashamed to admit it, despite the fact that Alex and I were only sixteen years old. My first time was with him, under the stars, on one of the beaches of that Greek island. We were completely alone, and it was all so magical...so I don't regret ever making love to the guy, no matter what else happened in our lives."
Fred clapped her hands in girl-y delight with a huge grin, while Gunn suddenly wished he was anywhere but here for the intimate details.
Cordelia sighed, "You know, during that time I thought that was how my life should have been. I so did not want to come back to the Hellmouth, and continue to risk my neck fighting demons..."
"So, how did your friends feel about your new relationship with the guy?" Gunn asked.
Cordy shook her head. "When we got back? Willow was happy that I was happy. Giles was upset, but only because he'd have to deal with another American teenager. Jesse and Buffy? Yeah, big surprise, they didn't like it much. And Angel...well, he didn't even know Alex then, at least no more than what Buffy had told him and he'd seen for himself at the Bronze..."
"What about Wesley? What did he think?" Fred wondered.
"Wesley wasn't there back then; he didn't show up in town until well into the second half of senior year. And this was our junior year," Cordelia told her. "But the start of the year was uneventful, really. Oh, we had some problems, Hellmouth-wise; and a new rich guy moved into town and Harmony immediately made him her pet project. She did everything she could, to make him into the biggest stud on campus..."
"I'm almost afraid to ask what your little Hellmouth problems were," Gunn said, as he leaned back in his chair with his feet resting on the patio table.
Cordelia just shrugged, as if she didn't believe this info was anything important. "Well, there was this one guy, Chris Epps? He and this other guy called Eric brought Chris's dead older brother back to life, a la Dr. Frankenstein. But Daryl Epps – I'd known him, by the way – he didn't want to live his freaky eternal life alone, so those two dummies of his dug up a few recently-dead girls to make him a bride."
Fred looked sick and Gunn just shook his head in disgust as Cordelia continued, "Long story short, they needed a fresh live head for the girl they were making, and they decided to pick mine. Jesse was the one who got me out, when the building caught on fire. But ya know, he was really kinda pissed I wasn't more grateful..."
A shrug. "I never understood the problem, I mean we'd saved each other's lives every day some weeks. But I ran for the field to find Alex, since it all happened during a football game..." Then as an afterthought Cordelia added, "Oh yeah, we also met Spike and Drusilla a week or so after that, when they tried to go all Die Hard on us at Parent-Teacher Night."
At seeing her friend's looks, she just shrugged again. "Hey, by then nothing in that town surprised me anymore. But then came one hell of a night. Halloween..."
"Yeah," Gunn said. "I'd imagine that in a town like that, the vamps would love Halloween. It'd be like undead New Year..."
"Oh no, they hated it," Cordelia told him. "Like Giles said, traditionally that night is dead for the undead. Way too tacky and commercial for them. No, the big threat was Ethan Rayne. He was this chaos worshiper..."
At Fred's confused face Cordy cut off her imminent question, "Bottom line, he was this British asshole who just got off screwing with everyone. He opened a costume shop, and just about all the kids got their costumes there, including me and my friends. Just our luck, we became our costumes..."
Ms. Chase counted the outfits on her fingers as she ticked them off. "Alex bought a Highlander-style trenchcoat and fake sword, Buffy got this 18th century noblewoman outfit, Willow dressed up as a ghost with clubbing gear underneath – don't ask – and Jesse was a cowboy..."
"And you?"
A sigh was the answer to Fred's question for a few moments before Cordelia, "I didn't even know what it was, at first. I just thought I looked so damned hot in it. Black leather pants, boots, and a used black leather jacket. It turned out that..."
***
FLASHBACK
Halloween Night, October 31st, 1997
The vampires led by Spike looked down at the unconscious form of Jesse on the ground, as they tried to get by him without passing through the ghost of the redhead. It seemed that the undead didn't care for ghosts all that much, for whatever reason. But the main drama was going on a bit more into the building...
"Let her go right now, you lousy bloodsucker!" Cordelia raged, as she and Alex tried to get the crying and cowering Buffy away from Spike. Angel was nowhere to be seen, and things were looking bad...
"Oh, now, the Prom Queen has a bit of fight in her, is that right?" the bleached vampire mocked the female teenager, as he held Buffy down by the neck. "Maybe after I get done with the Slayer 'ere, I'll take you back to my place and break you o' that..."
The persona Cordelia had become didn't even flinch, just because the vampires were leering at her leather-covered body. She was very used to stupid men and demons trying to terrify her.
But unfortunately Alex, the football player-turned-Immortal, yelled in outrage and went after Spike – his persona's morals from the 16th century Scottish Highlands demanding satisfaction for those words. The British vampire avoided the swinging Japanese katana though, and needed only one punch to knock his opponent down to the floor.
As Spike was laughing to himself about the blood flowing from the boy's mouth, he suddenly watched in astonishment as the injury healed – with the blue-white lightning bolts flashing across the wound. Thus Spike didn't have time to react to the screaming, ferocious, leather-clad warrior that slammed into him, hard.
"Don't you DARE touch him!" she who had been Cordelia Chase screamed, as the force of her blows sent the Master vampire back. He had no choice but to let go of the frightened Slayer, as he tried to shield himself from attack. His undead minions fell back too, as they saw their sire getting his ass handed to him by a teenage girl...
Cordelia was so enraged – and in the zone, so to speak – that she could and would have dusted the bleached-blond vampire. If not for the fact that at that exact instant across town, Rupert Giles smashed the statue of Janus onto the ground and broke the spell.
Spike took full advantage of Cordelia's now-confused state, as the vampire knocked her to the floor. "You think you can 'urt me, pet!? You're nothing, little girl! I'm thinkin' I should turn you and make you beg me for death, forever! What do ya think about that, huh!?" he taunted the cheerleader, but then the English undead turned around when a tapping on his shoulder caught his attention.
The Big Bad looked in surprise to see Buffy standing there, with the black wig on the floor and her telling him, "My opinion? I think that idea sucks, big-time!" the Slayer said simply, before she punched him clear across the room.
And of course, the Master vampire wasted no time in heading out the back door as soon as he recovered.
Buffy watched as Cordelia crawled across the floor, to the still-dazed Alex. The cheerleader then took his head into her lap and held him, as if her life depended on it.
END FLASHBACK
***
The former Sunnydale resident continued to narrate the tale, anticipating the next question from her friends. "My outfit was kinda unique; it was from a real woman, a woman that if I ever met in real life, I would have been scared shitless of her."
"Should I even ask?" Gunn wondered aloud. "And what about what happened to the others?"
Cordelia shrugged. "Alex, Buffy, Jesse and Willow were fine. They all went back to normal; which was kinda a relief, as I didn't want a boyfriend that would be a teenager forever!"
Then she went on, "The persona I became, her name was Olga. A Russian mercenary, and one real scary lady. She really could kill you a hundred different ways, with her bare hands. Even her own employers were scared of her; it seemed that no one could ever get close to her..."
Cordelia's face grew somewhat dark, as if she was recounting her own family history rather than telling a story. "She met a guy though, and fell in love with him. It was like this weirdest thing; that she could be a cold calculating bitch to everyone else, but just melt at the sight of her man. She even called him that, 'her man'. So they got together and lived their lives in peace – rich peace, to be sure – but the point is they were happy. For a time."
A very dark look then came over her face. "Then one of her old enemies, Boris, showed up," Cordy growled when she said the name. "Olga and her man were happy, and in love – so much so it scares me, thinking back on it. She hadn't ever thought she would feel love like that, but feel it she did. So she got married, and was going to have his child. A daughter. But then Boris came, and killed her husband out of revenge..."
Fred just closed her eyes. She still didn't like hearing of someone getting killed. She hoped she never got used to it either, or one day there might be nothing left of the real Fred Burkle in her.
"Olga lost it, after she saw him killed right in front of her. All I'll say is that it got ugly, but at least she took Boris with her in the end. She died – before she could have her baby. But no one ever knew, I guess, what happened. Anyway, somehow one of her outfits had gotten into Ethan's group of costumes. And I became her."
Ms Chase shook her head for a moment, to clear her thoughts. "At first, it was as if I had two people in my head. I don't think it was really her soul or whatever, but a tiny bit of her essence. Gradually, she eventually faded into the background of my mind and I became completely me again. All her skills and contacts stuck in my head, though. That's why I can build a bomb out of anything now. Which really came in handy, when we fought the Mayor with his lameass Ascension."
"So, in one night, you got all these cool fighting moves and stuff?" Gunn looked impressed. "That sure beats any training method I ever heard of."
"Yeah, I can kick Chuck Norris's ass now, but that's not all I got," Cordelia said. "I didn't tell this to Giles or the others, but I also got her memories. It was damned weird. And it's not like my memories are in conflict with hers, it's...the best way I can describe it, is to say I have two hard drives on one computer system. One is Olga Priabin, and the other is Cordelia Chase..."
***
FLASHBACK
November 1st, 1997
Sunnydale High Library
"You sure you're all right, Cordy?"
She looked up from the new laptop screen, to see the only other person in the room. "Yes Alex, I'm fine."
Her boyfriend was still in awe of it all. "I know this makes me sound like a pig here, but you can kick my ass now in less than ten seconds. My girlfriend can kick my ass..."
She gave him an evil grin, "I would never kick your ass, sweetheart. I'd rather give you another good spanking!"
Alex quickly leaned in. "Cor! We talked about this – not in public, remember?"
The brunette waved that off. "It's just us here," she whispered the next part. "Fine, I'll let you spank me tonight..."
Alex looked at her in mild surprise. "Tonight? I thought you had something to do tonight?"
She got the evil grin back. "I canceled it. Not only did I get her fighting skills, but she had some other skills that I think you will definitely like. I can't wait to try some of the things she knew." Cordelia leaned down into her purse, pulled out a five-dollar bill and handed it to him.
"What's this for?" Alex asked her.
"For lunch today, I want you to buy at least three energy drinks. You'll need as much as you can get."
"Okay, I'm happy – and yet, a little terrified," the male Scooby said with a giddy look on his face.
They both looked up when the bell rang. "Damn!" the boy said. "Time for English..." He leaned down to give her a quick kiss, when the cheerleader grabbed his head with both hands and gave him a very passionate kiss.
"Wow," Harris whispered with a goofy look, before he grabbed his books and was on his way out the door.
Cordelia watched his backside as he left the library, with a predatory smile. "God, he's got a great ass!" she told herself, before returning to the computer in front of her.
Suddenly, all expression left Cordy's face as she opened the web browser, going right to the site for the offshore bank in the Cayman Islands. After entering the login ID and password, she watched as a screen flashed...
Accounts Last Accessed 12-08-1980
Then a page full of account numbers came up. A very sinister smile came to the teenager's face, as she saw 26 account balances pop up. Most already had seven figures, and four had eight figures.
"My God, I love compound interest..."
The girl knew that this money, that had been just sitting there untouched for years, had not been earned in ways that the people she fought with would have liked. So she quickly learned not to think of the things that had been done, to obtain all the zeros she saw on the screen.
Olga may have found love at the end of her life, but she had been no saint by anyone's standards.
Cordelia spent the next half an hour shuffling the money into other banks, and investing in various companies. In one night, she had become richer than her parents or anyone they knew from the country club. Cordelia could now buy and sell most of them with the ease that some use when buying a can of Pepsi.
After she closed out the bank web pages the teen opened a new window, and typed in a long URL. Cordy wondered how she knew it, since she understood that the Internet hadn't been around when Olga was alive. But seeing as how she'd just gotten the memories and the bank accounts of a dead woman from a spell that had turned her into her Halloween costume, she just decided to accept it for now and go with the flow.
Weapons images filled the screen. Everything from pistols, machine-guns, rocket launchers, swords, axes, and even some newer land mines flashed across her eyes.
Cordelia ordered various weapons, and spent several thousand on ammunition alone. She also ordered a Soviet-era Graz-Burya handgun; a brutal, reliable weapon often favored by the Russian KGB. The girl made sure to have it customized to the way Olga had always had her old one, too; as far as part of her mind was concerned, the last one had felt like a part of her arm. And the young woman wanted to be sure this one would, as well.
Cordy couldn't wait to see how her enhanced senses from her hyena possession would help with her targeting skills, either...
Some would wonder why she needed all this; but living on a Hellmouth, Ms. Chase wanted to be ready for anything. An overwhelming desire to have the best to protect her mate and her friends washed through her. No one would hurt them like that ever again.
The last thing she ordered online caused the evil smile to return. A full Conan the Barbarian outfit, for Alex. She knew they would get a lot of fun out of it...
"Hey, Cordelia."
The voice surprised the girl, and she quickly toggled the web browser to the page displaying the website for Cosmo magazine. "Hey, Jesse."
The boy sat down across from her, and groaned. "Man, I am so not ready for Mr. Davis's test today." Her friend sighed and shook his head. "How the hell can anyone know that much about history, let alone the Soviet Union? I am so going to bomb on this thing, and give Snyder another reason to get on my case."
Cordelia smiled warmly at her male companion. "Don't worry, you can copy off of me."
"What, you found time to study with all the crazy stuff that's happened?" he asked.
"No, I'm just feeling lucky today."
END FLASHBACK
***
"Alex was the only one who I ever really told about just how much I got from Olga. Just like he told me what it was like, feeling that you were nearly 500 years old," Cordelia told her two friends.
"After that, everything went relatively good for months. Then the Watchers fired Giles when he did the right thing during Buffy's 18th birthday, the stupid assholes. Wesley showed up to be Buffy's new Watcher, and don't kid yourselves – she and Faith didn't like him at all. He had such a stick up his ass back then..."
"Faith?" Fred interrupted. "That's the evil Slayer that tortured Wesley, after Wolfram & Hart hired her to kill Angel, right?"
The darkest look they had seen yet came over Ms. Chase. "She is so damn lucky I was on vacation, back then. If I'd have been here, that bitch would have been put in the ground as soon as I saw her." Her look went to annoyed. "But Angel just has to be the great soul saver. You know, I think he got her to turn herself in more to protect her from me, than to deal with her past or what happened with Wolfram & Hart."
"You'd really kill her?" Gunn asked, already knowing the answer.
"Damn right I would. I've even got a special knife all ready and waiting for the next time I see her. Buffy started the job with it, and if I ever lay eyes on Faith again I'll finish it. She better sit in her cell and pray she really doesn't get out of that place in Stockton for the next 25 years," Cordelia said with pure hate in her voice.
"What did she do?" Fred asked. "I heard she went bad after working with you and the others, but that's it..."
For a moment Cordelia's anger slipped away, and Fred and Gunn saw a single shiny tear slide down her cheek.
***
FLASHBACK
May 5th, 1999
Sunnydale Country Club
Harmony Kendall walked to her bright red Dodge Viper, and instantly got pissed off. "Hey, get your skanky ass off my car!"
The curvaceous brunette teenage girl jumped off the hood, before turning around and admiring the car. "Wicked bad set of wheels you've got here, Blondie..."
Harmony was annoyed, as she suddenly recognized her companion. "Yeah, well, I'm betting you mostly only see this kind of car when the guys that drive it pick you up from your street corner! Now, you mind telling me why a friend of the biggest losers in Sunnydale has the guts to talk to me? Or should I just call security, and have you thrown out of here?"
The brunette ignored the insult and leaned on the car, as she looked Harmony over. "I'm not with those idiots who hang out in that library anymore. You see, Blondie, right now I downright hate them. And I was wondering if you'd like to help me do something to hit 'em where it really hurts..."
The cheerleader shook her head. "Why should I give a crap about you, or them?"
"Oh, no reason..." The junior vampire Slayer responded. "I mean, I just thought you would love to teach that whore Cordelia Chase what happens when you steal a guy from Harmony Kendall. But hey, you want to let her think she's better than you, that's fine with me..."
Harmony's interest shot way up. "And just how would I get back at her, and that bastard Alex?"
"Just by having some fun," was Faith's answer. "But what I have in mind needs a real cold bitch for the job, someone who doesn't give a shit about what happens to either of them."
"And you know that's me, or else you wouldn't be here."
"Damn, you're quick Blondie! So, you want to shatter their great relationship into a million pieces and leave them miserable for the rest of their lives?"
The blond smiled in a way that made Evil Faith sure that she had picked the right person. "Let's go into the clubhouse and talk."
"Lead on, Blondie..."
TBC...
"So, you and Alex didn't go to the Prom with the others?" Fred asked.
"No. No we didn't," Cordelia said, as she moved from the railing to a plastic patio chair. She enjoyed the feeling of the light breeze through her hair before she continued, "I took the big dummy to the hospital. He checked out fine, just a little banged up. Alex then wanted me to go off to join the others at the Prom, but he didn't want to go himself since Harmony was going to be there. So, I decided to stay with him."
She continued, "One of the hospital rent-a-cops had a dad who worked for Alex's family, so he let us go on the roof of the hospital to hang out. We brought a radio, and the jerk found some station that played some dumb spaghetti music, as we just talked looking up at the stars from twelve floors up. We talked about everything and nothing. His family, my family, even about the fight we'd had when we were little kids. Turns out he didn't remember what it was about anymore than I did."
An almost shy look comes across Cordelia's face. "Then the radio started to play classical music. Alex told me he wasn't going to rob Cordelia Chase of her Prom Night, so right then and there he asked me to dance. We totally and completely lost track of the time just dancing, and before we knew it the sun was coming up. That was one of, if not the best nights of my life."
Ms. Chase looked to her two friends. "One thing above all else I learned about life, is that you don't remember the big things like you think you will. You remember the moments. Even the smallest ones. Being up there that night, dancing to every song that came on the radio, and just the look in his eyes as he stared at me...I can't explain how great that felt. If we'd been in a romantic movie or whatever, that's the point where we would have lived happily ever after and the credits would have rolled."
"But I'm gettin' the impression that that's not how it turned out," Gunn commented.
"Well, actually, no – for a while, it was pretty damn good," Cordelia told him with a slight smirk. "Alex broke up with Harmony the next day, when she came to find him and demand to know why he never showed at the Prom. And funny thing, he never told me just how he finally managed to get rid of her..."
***
FLASHBACK
June 1st, 1997
Sunnydale General Hospital
"Cordelia?!?" Harmony yelled, as her voice carried in the parking lot where she had cornered Alex. "You were with that bitch all last night!?"
"Don't call her that!" Alex yelled back. "And it's not like you're making it sound! I was in the hospital, for crying out loud!"
Harmony gave him a look of anger, mixed with cruel amusement. "Since when did you start growing a backbone? You do NOT yell at me, Alexander Harris! Do you know how much damage control I'm going to have to do, to cover the fact that my BOYFRIEND didn't show up at my Prom!?"
"Harmony, will you cut it out?! My God, but I'm sick of this. And you didn't want me there anyway!" Alex yelled back. "Why didn't you just take that college guy you were making out with, under the bleachers? You know, the one you made fun of me to?"
The blond didn't flinch. "Is that supposed to impress me, that you know I was making out with a real man? You know the drill, you idiot, we've discussed this before. I'm only with you until we graduate high school! After that, you've served your purpose. Come on, I'm Harmony Kendall! I have the BEST, and only the best! And at this thing we laughingly call a high school, you happen to be the most popular guy..."
"Okay, Harm, lemme put it like this. If you don't really give a crap about me beyond the sake of appearances, then why the hell do you care who I spent the evening dancing with!?" he demanded.
Harmony was getting annoyed at his attitude. "Do I have to remind you why you're going to do exactly what I say, when I say it!?"
The guy suddenly looked uneasy. "I didn't do anything wrong, and you know it! You were the one who came over, you were the one who even brought the condoms..."
A predatory smile came over Harmony's face. "It doesn't matter what really happened, dummy. It doesn't matter that I came over to your house because I was bored, and decided to have sex with you. And hell, you weren't even that good! I've had better, before and since..."
She then put on an act of total innocence, and gave her voice a schoolgirl quality to it. "All that'll matter is when I tell my dear old daddy, that the big mean old football player raped me. Oh, he forced me daddy! He came over and I kept saying no, but he didn't stop! I was waiting for my wedding night, I swear, but Alex raped me daddy..."
Harmony laughed at his pissed-off face. "Now, who are they gonna believe, Alex? The dumb jock, or the cheerleader who is just so traumatized by his vicious attack? Just think of it, every girl you'd ever talk to afterwards would wonder to herself, 'Did he really do it? Would he do that to me too?' Alex, face facts. I so own your ass!"
The blond girl was slightly surprised though, when his frown turned into a bigger grin than the one she had. She then watched as the quarterback calmly got into his car and started the engine, and wondered what the heck the other teen thought he was doing, turning his back on her.
Alex then looked out the open window to the manipulative creature, "All right, Harmony. Go ahead. Go call your dad, and lie to him that I raped you last year. In fact, I hope he does have me arrested! It will just dig you in deeper..."
"You think I won't, you horse's ass?!" Harmony raged full force at him. "You think you're going to make me believe that you don't care, that no one will believe me? Bullshit! I'm Harmony Kendall! Everyone loves me!"
The male teenager just watched her rant without flinching. "Have a nice life, Harmony. I hope you find that rich guy you're after, who can turn you into that trophy wife you so want to become some day. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to be somewhere."
"Where? Another meeting with that slut!?"
"No. The only slut I know right now, I'm talking to her..." Alex told his ex, which enraged Harmony more than he thought he'd ever seen her. "But if you must know, I have to go make copies."
This surprised her. "Copies?"
Alex reached into his pants pocket, and pulled out a small silver mini-tape recorder. Harmony grew quiet, as she saw the two black prongs turning the tape as the red recording light was on.
"I hereby solemnly swear that this tape was made by me, Alexander Lavelle Harris, on June 1st 1997 at the Sunnydale General Hospital parking lot at approximately 10 am. With me is Harmony Kendall, who had no prior knowledge up until now I was taping our conversation. Do you understand that for the record, you have spoken all of these words of your own free will, Harmony?"
The cheerleader looked stunned. "I – yes, I – what?" Then the murderous rage came into her eyes. "YOU SON OF A-"
Alex enjoyed the look on her face for a moment, as he switched off the tape. "Now, lemme make this real clear for you, Harm. You will leave me and Cordelia alone, from now on. And for the hell of it, you and your sheep will also leave Cordy's friends alone as well. If I hear any evil rumors spread around about me or anyone who I just mentioned, or you try to do the false rape thing? Then this tape gets sent to your parents, the police, and everyone at the country club. Do we understand each other?"
With a smirk, Alex Harris hit the button that brought the car window up, and Harmony saw the utterly shocked look on her face reflected in it as he drove away.
END FLASHBACK
****
"So, anyway, Harmony and Alex broke up, and I have to tell you I'd never seen him happier," Cordelia said. "And man, a lot of people were shocked when we started to officially dating! For a week, it was heaven."
"Why only a week?" Fred wondered.
Cordy frowned. "School ended for the year. He went off to a football training camp, while I went to Tuscany with my family."
"That sucks," Fred deadpanned. "You guys just get together, then you get split up for three months?"
"Well, not the entire three months," Cordelia said with a gleam in her eye. "His football thing was only for two months. So afterwards, Alex flew over to Italy to meet with us. We backpacked through most of the country, and even went over into Greece for a month. I swear, when we got to one of the islands – Naxos, it was called – I was sure my life couldn't get any better..."
She saw their looks and shrugged. "No tourists, monolingual locals and beautiful weather. Of course Daddy instead we carry a GPS tracker with us, but otherwise it was just the two of us."
"The two of you, all alone?" Gunn asked, surprised. "Your parents actually let you go off with the guy, like unchaperoned?"
"Well, my mom had always kinda liked him. And she knew how I felt about him...she just told me to think carefully, when we were off together." She shrugged. "Besides that, she knew we'd be okay – he knew Greek pretty well, and I can speak fluent Italian. Che parla italiano fluente..."
Fred seemed stuck on something. "So, so, you and your first crush were alone for a long time, right? Did you two-?" the former physicist stopped, not knowing how to phrase the question without making herself sound like a pervert.
Cordelia saved her. "You mean, did we have sex?"
Gunn smirked, as Fred blushed and nodded.
"Well," Cordelia said slowly. "I'm not ashamed to admit it, despite the fact that Alex and I were only sixteen years old. My first time was with him, under the stars, on one of the beaches of that Greek island. We were completely alone, and it was all so magical...so I don't regret ever making love to the guy, no matter what else happened in our lives."
Fred clapped her hands in girl-y delight with a huge grin, while Gunn suddenly wished he was anywhere but here for the intimate details.
Cordelia sighed, "You know, during that time I thought that was how my life should have been. I so did not want to come back to the Hellmouth, and continue to risk my neck fighting demons..."
"So, how did your friends feel about your new relationship with the guy?" Gunn asked.
Cordy shook her head. "When we got back? Willow was happy that I was happy. Giles was upset, but only because he'd have to deal with another American teenager. Jesse and Buffy? Yeah, big surprise, they didn't like it much. And Angel...well, he didn't even know Alex then, at least no more than what Buffy had told him and he'd seen for himself at the Bronze..."
"What about Wesley? What did he think?" Fred wondered.
"Wesley wasn't there back then; he didn't show up in town until well into the second half of senior year. And this was our junior year," Cordelia told her. "But the start of the year was uneventful, really. Oh, we had some problems, Hellmouth-wise; and a new rich guy moved into town and Harmony immediately made him her pet project. She did everything she could, to make him into the biggest stud on campus..."
"I'm almost afraid to ask what your little Hellmouth problems were," Gunn said, as he leaned back in his chair with his feet resting on the patio table.
Cordelia just shrugged, as if she didn't believe this info was anything important. "Well, there was this one guy, Chris Epps? He and this other guy called Eric brought Chris's dead older brother back to life, a la Dr. Frankenstein. But Daryl Epps – I'd known him, by the way – he didn't want to live his freaky eternal life alone, so those two dummies of his dug up a few recently-dead girls to make him a bride."
Fred looked sick and Gunn just shook his head in disgust as Cordelia continued, "Long story short, they needed a fresh live head for the girl they were making, and they decided to pick mine. Jesse was the one who got me out, when the building caught on fire. But ya know, he was really kinda pissed I wasn't more grateful..."
A shrug. "I never understood the problem, I mean we'd saved each other's lives every day some weeks. But I ran for the field to find Alex, since it all happened during a football game..." Then as an afterthought Cordelia added, "Oh yeah, we also met Spike and Drusilla a week or so after that, when they tried to go all Die Hard on us at Parent-Teacher Night."
At seeing her friend's looks, she just shrugged again. "Hey, by then nothing in that town surprised me anymore. But then came one hell of a night. Halloween..."
"Yeah," Gunn said. "I'd imagine that in a town like that, the vamps would love Halloween. It'd be like undead New Year..."
"Oh no, they hated it," Cordelia told him. "Like Giles said, traditionally that night is dead for the undead. Way too tacky and commercial for them. No, the big threat was Ethan Rayne. He was this chaos worshiper..."
At Fred's confused face Cordy cut off her imminent question, "Bottom line, he was this British asshole who just got off screwing with everyone. He opened a costume shop, and just about all the kids got their costumes there, including me and my friends. Just our luck, we became our costumes..."
Ms. Chase counted the outfits on her fingers as she ticked them off. "Alex bought a Highlander-style trenchcoat and fake sword, Buffy got this 18th century noblewoman outfit, Willow dressed up as a ghost with clubbing gear underneath – don't ask – and Jesse was a cowboy..."
"And you?"
A sigh was the answer to Fred's question for a few moments before Cordelia, "I didn't even know what it was, at first. I just thought I looked so damned hot in it. Black leather pants, boots, and a used black leather jacket. It turned out that..."
***
FLASHBACK
Halloween Night, October 31st, 1997
The vampires led by Spike looked down at the unconscious form of Jesse on the ground, as they tried to get by him without passing through the ghost of the redhead. It seemed that the undead didn't care for ghosts all that much, for whatever reason. But the main drama was going on a bit more into the building...
"Let her go right now, you lousy bloodsucker!" Cordelia raged, as she and Alex tried to get the crying and cowering Buffy away from Spike. Angel was nowhere to be seen, and things were looking bad...
"Oh, now, the Prom Queen has a bit of fight in her, is that right?" the bleached vampire mocked the female teenager, as he held Buffy down by the neck. "Maybe after I get done with the Slayer 'ere, I'll take you back to my place and break you o' that..."
The persona Cordelia had become didn't even flinch, just because the vampires were leering at her leather-covered body. She was very used to stupid men and demons trying to terrify her.
But unfortunately Alex, the football player-turned-Immortal, yelled in outrage and went after Spike – his persona's morals from the 16th century Scottish Highlands demanding satisfaction for those words. The British vampire avoided the swinging Japanese katana though, and needed only one punch to knock his opponent down to the floor.
As Spike was laughing to himself about the blood flowing from the boy's mouth, he suddenly watched in astonishment as the injury healed – with the blue-white lightning bolts flashing across the wound. Thus Spike didn't have time to react to the screaming, ferocious, leather-clad warrior that slammed into him, hard.
"Don't you DARE touch him!" she who had been Cordelia Chase screamed, as the force of her blows sent the Master vampire back. He had no choice but to let go of the frightened Slayer, as he tried to shield himself from attack. His undead minions fell back too, as they saw their sire getting his ass handed to him by a teenage girl...
Cordelia was so enraged – and in the zone, so to speak – that she could and would have dusted the bleached-blond vampire. If not for the fact that at that exact instant across town, Rupert Giles smashed the statue of Janus onto the ground and broke the spell.
Spike took full advantage of Cordelia's now-confused state, as the vampire knocked her to the floor. "You think you can 'urt me, pet!? You're nothing, little girl! I'm thinkin' I should turn you and make you beg me for death, forever! What do ya think about that, huh!?" he taunted the cheerleader, but then the English undead turned around when a tapping on his shoulder caught his attention.
The Big Bad looked in surprise to see Buffy standing there, with the black wig on the floor and her telling him, "My opinion? I think that idea sucks, big-time!" the Slayer said simply, before she punched him clear across the room.
And of course, the Master vampire wasted no time in heading out the back door as soon as he recovered.
Buffy watched as Cordelia crawled across the floor, to the still-dazed Alex. The cheerleader then took his head into her lap and held him, as if her life depended on it.
END FLASHBACK
***
The former Sunnydale resident continued to narrate the tale, anticipating the next question from her friends. "My outfit was kinda unique; it was from a real woman, a woman that if I ever met in real life, I would have been scared shitless of her."
"Should I even ask?" Gunn wondered aloud. "And what about what happened to the others?"
Cordelia shrugged. "Alex, Buffy, Jesse and Willow were fine. They all went back to normal; which was kinda a relief, as I didn't want a boyfriend that would be a teenager forever!"
Then she went on, "The persona I became, her name was Olga. A Russian mercenary, and one real scary lady. She really could kill you a hundred different ways, with her bare hands. Even her own employers were scared of her; it seemed that no one could ever get close to her..."
Cordelia's face grew somewhat dark, as if she was recounting her own family history rather than telling a story. "She met a guy though, and fell in love with him. It was like this weirdest thing; that she could be a cold calculating bitch to everyone else, but just melt at the sight of her man. She even called him that, 'her man'. So they got together and lived their lives in peace – rich peace, to be sure – but the point is they were happy. For a time."
A very dark look then came over her face. "Then one of her old enemies, Boris, showed up," Cordy growled when she said the name. "Olga and her man were happy, and in love – so much so it scares me, thinking back on it. She hadn't ever thought she would feel love like that, but feel it she did. So she got married, and was going to have his child. A daughter. But then Boris came, and killed her husband out of revenge..."
Fred just closed her eyes. She still didn't like hearing of someone getting killed. She hoped she never got used to it either, or one day there might be nothing left of the real Fred Burkle in her.
"Olga lost it, after she saw him killed right in front of her. All I'll say is that it got ugly, but at least she took Boris with her in the end. She died – before she could have her baby. But no one ever knew, I guess, what happened. Anyway, somehow one of her outfits had gotten into Ethan's group of costumes. And I became her."
Ms Chase shook her head for a moment, to clear her thoughts. "At first, it was as if I had two people in my head. I don't think it was really her soul or whatever, but a tiny bit of her essence. Gradually, she eventually faded into the background of my mind and I became completely me again. All her skills and contacts stuck in my head, though. That's why I can build a bomb out of anything now. Which really came in handy, when we fought the Mayor with his lameass Ascension."
"So, in one night, you got all these cool fighting moves and stuff?" Gunn looked impressed. "That sure beats any training method I ever heard of."
"Yeah, I can kick Chuck Norris's ass now, but that's not all I got," Cordelia said. "I didn't tell this to Giles or the others, but I also got her memories. It was damned weird. And it's not like my memories are in conflict with hers, it's...the best way I can describe it, is to say I have two hard drives on one computer system. One is Olga Priabin, and the other is Cordelia Chase..."
***
FLASHBACK
November 1st, 1997
Sunnydale High Library
"You sure you're all right, Cordy?"
She looked up from the new laptop screen, to see the only other person in the room. "Yes Alex, I'm fine."
Her boyfriend was still in awe of it all. "I know this makes me sound like a pig here, but you can kick my ass now in less than ten seconds. My girlfriend can kick my ass..."
She gave him an evil grin, "I would never kick your ass, sweetheart. I'd rather give you another good spanking!"
Alex quickly leaned in. "Cor! We talked about this – not in public, remember?"
The brunette waved that off. "It's just us here," she whispered the next part. "Fine, I'll let you spank me tonight..."
Alex looked at her in mild surprise. "Tonight? I thought you had something to do tonight?"
She got the evil grin back. "I canceled it. Not only did I get her fighting skills, but she had some other skills that I think you will definitely like. I can't wait to try some of the things she knew." Cordelia leaned down into her purse, pulled out a five-dollar bill and handed it to him.
"What's this for?" Alex asked her.
"For lunch today, I want you to buy at least three energy drinks. You'll need as much as you can get."
"Okay, I'm happy – and yet, a little terrified," the male Scooby said with a giddy look on his face.
They both looked up when the bell rang. "Damn!" the boy said. "Time for English..." He leaned down to give her a quick kiss, when the cheerleader grabbed his head with both hands and gave him a very passionate kiss.
"Wow," Harris whispered with a goofy look, before he grabbed his books and was on his way out the door.
Cordelia watched his backside as he left the library, with a predatory smile. "God, he's got a great ass!" she told herself, before returning to the computer in front of her.
Suddenly, all expression left Cordy's face as she opened the web browser, going right to the site for the offshore bank in the Cayman Islands. After entering the login ID and password, she watched as a screen flashed...
Accounts Last Accessed 12-08-1980
Then a page full of account numbers came up. A very sinister smile came to the teenager's face, as she saw 26 account balances pop up. Most already had seven figures, and four had eight figures.
"My God, I love compound interest..."
The girl knew that this money, that had been just sitting there untouched for years, had not been earned in ways that the people she fought with would have liked. So she quickly learned not to think of the things that had been done, to obtain all the zeros she saw on the screen.
Olga may have found love at the end of her life, but she had been no saint by anyone's standards.
Cordelia spent the next half an hour shuffling the money into other banks, and investing in various companies. In one night, she had become richer than her parents or anyone they knew from the country club. Cordelia could now buy and sell most of them with the ease that some use when buying a can of Pepsi.
After she closed out the bank web pages the teen opened a new window, and typed in a long URL. Cordy wondered how she knew it, since she understood that the Internet hadn't been around when Olga was alive. But seeing as how she'd just gotten the memories and the bank accounts of a dead woman from a spell that had turned her into her Halloween costume, she just decided to accept it for now and go with the flow.
Weapons images filled the screen. Everything from pistols, machine-guns, rocket launchers, swords, axes, and even some newer land mines flashed across her eyes.
Cordelia ordered various weapons, and spent several thousand on ammunition alone. She also ordered a Soviet-era Graz-Burya handgun; a brutal, reliable weapon often favored by the Russian KGB. The girl made sure to have it customized to the way Olga had always had her old one, too; as far as part of her mind was concerned, the last one had felt like a part of her arm. And the young woman wanted to be sure this one would, as well.
Cordy couldn't wait to see how her enhanced senses from her hyena possession would help with her targeting skills, either...
Some would wonder why she needed all this; but living on a Hellmouth, Ms. Chase wanted to be ready for anything. An overwhelming desire to have the best to protect her mate and her friends washed through her. No one would hurt them like that ever again.
The last thing she ordered online caused the evil smile to return. A full Conan the Barbarian outfit, for Alex. She knew they would get a lot of fun out of it...
"Hey, Cordelia."
The voice surprised the girl, and she quickly toggled the web browser to the page displaying the website for Cosmo magazine. "Hey, Jesse."
The boy sat down across from her, and groaned. "Man, I am so not ready for Mr. Davis's test today." Her friend sighed and shook his head. "How the hell can anyone know that much about history, let alone the Soviet Union? I am so going to bomb on this thing, and give Snyder another reason to get on my case."
Cordelia smiled warmly at her male companion. "Don't worry, you can copy off of me."
"What, you found time to study with all the crazy stuff that's happened?" he asked.
"No, I'm just feeling lucky today."
END FLASHBACK
***
"Alex was the only one who I ever really told about just how much I got from Olga. Just like he told me what it was like, feeling that you were nearly 500 years old," Cordelia told her two friends.
"After that, everything went relatively good for months. Then the Watchers fired Giles when he did the right thing during Buffy's 18th birthday, the stupid assholes. Wesley showed up to be Buffy's new Watcher, and don't kid yourselves – she and Faith didn't like him at all. He had such a stick up his ass back then..."
"Faith?" Fred interrupted. "That's the evil Slayer that tortured Wesley, after Wolfram & Hart hired her to kill Angel, right?"
The darkest look they had seen yet came over Ms. Chase. "She is so damn lucky I was on vacation, back then. If I'd have been here, that bitch would have been put in the ground as soon as I saw her." Her look went to annoyed. "But Angel just has to be the great soul saver. You know, I think he got her to turn herself in more to protect her from me, than to deal with her past or what happened with Wolfram & Hart."
"You'd really kill her?" Gunn asked, already knowing the answer.
"Damn right I would. I've even got a special knife all ready and waiting for the next time I see her. Buffy started the job with it, and if I ever lay eyes on Faith again I'll finish it. She better sit in her cell and pray she really doesn't get out of that place in Stockton for the next 25 years," Cordelia said with pure hate in her voice.
"What did she do?" Fred asked. "I heard she went bad after working with you and the others, but that's it..."
For a moment Cordelia's anger slipped away, and Fred and Gunn saw a single shiny tear slide down her cheek.
***
FLASHBACK
May 5th, 1999
Sunnydale Country Club
Harmony Kendall walked to her bright red Dodge Viper, and instantly got pissed off. "Hey, get your skanky ass off my car!"
The curvaceous brunette teenage girl jumped off the hood, before turning around and admiring the car. "Wicked bad set of wheels you've got here, Blondie..."
Harmony was annoyed, as she suddenly recognized her companion. "Yeah, well, I'm betting you mostly only see this kind of car when the guys that drive it pick you up from your street corner! Now, you mind telling me why a friend of the biggest losers in Sunnydale has the guts to talk to me? Or should I just call security, and have you thrown out of here?"
The brunette ignored the insult and leaned on the car, as she looked Harmony over. "I'm not with those idiots who hang out in that library anymore. You see, Blondie, right now I downright hate them. And I was wondering if you'd like to help me do something to hit 'em where it really hurts..."
The cheerleader shook her head. "Why should I give a crap about you, or them?"
"Oh, no reason..." The junior vampire Slayer responded. "I mean, I just thought you would love to teach that whore Cordelia Chase what happens when you steal a guy from Harmony Kendall. But hey, you want to let her think she's better than you, that's fine with me..."
Harmony's interest shot way up. "And just how would I get back at her, and that bastard Alex?"
"Just by having some fun," was Faith's answer. "But what I have in mind needs a real cold bitch for the job, someone who doesn't give a shit about what happens to either of them."
"And you know that's me, or else you wouldn't be here."
"Damn, you're quick Blondie! So, you want to shatter their great relationship into a million pieces and leave them miserable for the rest of their lives?"
The blond smiled in a way that made Evil Faith sure that she had picked the right person. "Let's go into the clubhouse and talk."
"Lead on, Blondie..."
TBC...