by Cynamin

Part Two: Recognition

Her squeal of delight was his first greeting when he returned home, and despite himself young Liam smiled. No matter what had upset him that day, she could always make him smile.

She ran around the corner, slightly unsteady on her feet. Such a little jewel of a person.... So very young, she loved him with the totally uninhibited feelings only a small child could possess.

Abruptly, Kathy’s skirt got to be too much for her tiny legs, and she tumbled. She sat on the floor, looking stunned and about to cry. Liam hurried to her, setting her back up on her feet.

He smiled at her, reassuringly. “Ye be all right, l’il one,” he said, dusting her off a bit.

“Aw wight,” she agreed with a sniffle of aborted tears. She giggled then, and clasped her big brother around the chest as best she could with her tiny arms. “Hewo,” she said happily.

Liam returned her hug with one arm. “Hello to ye, too, Kathy,” he said.

Kathy pulled away, grinning and dashing off. She stopped after a second, turning to look back at him, daring him with her expression to chase after her. Liam grinned and happily followed. He joined her in her simple play, determined to keep her safe./

Memories, long forgotten, had a way of overwhelming Angel. Unlike the centuries he’d lived as a vampire, the memories of his far shorter, human years had faded, taking on a hazy unreality. But Kathy....

Kathy was real, and here, now. Injured, maybe dying, should be dead. Dead, because he had killed her nearly two and a half centuries before. He could smell her blood on him. An echo of his memories...killing her....

Angel groaned and hid his head in his hands. Completely overwhelmed. When he wasn’t dwelling on the times long past, his enhanced senses were straining through the busy hospital. Any hint to Kathy’s fate...he listened and felt and hoped that this time she would survive. All he got, though, was the scent of her blood on his clothes, the hospital disinfectant, the other people in the waiting room, the sounds of heartbeats and machinery.

Someone cleared their throat nearly at his knee, and Angel jumped. His head shot up to meet the startled gazes of Cordelia, Wesley, and Gunn. Seeing the three worried faces, he tried and failed to give a small smile, then ran a hand through his hair. “Sorry,” he said.

“Jumpy?” Cordelia suggested.

Angel nodded. “Yeah.”

There was an awkward silence between them as the three looked at Angel expectantly. He said nothing, unaware of their gazes at first, still listening closely to the hospital activity, watching doctors and nurses hurry by and waiting for some word.

“What’s going on, Angel?” Wesley asked at last.

Angel sighed. “I’m not sure,” he said softly. “I...found my sister.”

“Sister?” Gunn said in confusion. “She’s not, you know...”

Angel shook his head. “She’s alive,” he said, then dropped his voice to speak in a whisper. “Human.”

“Umm...isn’t that impossible?” Cordelia pointed out. “I mean, especially if you’re talking literally, like the two of you had the same mother and father, not some strange vampire concept I don’t get.”

“Yes,” Angel agreed briefly.

Wesley spoke in a whisper, barely audible in the busy hospital. “Forgive my bluntness,” he said, “but didn’t you kill your sister?”

Cordelia gasped, and Gunn made a harsh, disgusted sound.

Angel flinched under the combined weight of their stares and that hard fact. “Yes,” he whispered back.

Wesley sighed. “Angel, has it occurred to you...”

Angel wasn’t listening anymore. A doctor was looking over the crowded waiting room, clearly looking for someone. His eyes locked with Angel’s, then he wove his way through the chairs. Angel stood, and his friends fell into silence.

Angel had rarely been so nervous as in those seconds it took the doctor to cross the room. ‘Please, let her be okay. I know it’s my fault that she’s here, but I’d do anything...’

The doctor stopped in front of him at last. “Mr...Angel?” he asked, glancing at the chart he held.

“Just Angel,” the anxious vampire replied. “How is she?”

“I’m Doctor Tarnor,” the doctor began. “The young woman that you brought in...”

“My sister,” Angel clarified. “Kathy.”

Doctor Tarnor met his worried gaze. “She lost a lot of blood,” he started to explain.

“Please,” Angel interrupted. “Just tell me if she’s going to be okay.”

“She hasn’t woken up yet, but she should be fine.”

Angel felt a great rush of relief go through him, and began to smile. “Good,” he whispered. “Good.”

The doctor was still very serious. “Now, is there any family that you need to contact? Her parents, perhaps?”

Angel shook his head, forcing down another wash of guilt. “No, uh...they’re dead. I’m the only family she has.”

The doctor nodded. “All right. Could you just tell me briefly what happened?”

Angel swallowed, anxious to see her and nervous about the truth. He made up the circumstances quickly. “She...was walking back from a costume party,” he said, easily explaining the eighteenth century clothing. “She was attacked by some kind of animal. I didn’t get a good look at it.” He looked seriously at the doctor. “May we please go see her now?”

The doctor looked at them for a second, then nodded. “Just briefly, now. She’s still out. She needs to recover, and it’s not exactly visiting hours.”

Angel nodded, then quickly followed the directions to his sister’s room. ‘Thank God...she’s alive. Thank you.’

“Angel!” Wesley said sharply, hurrying up next to him as he nearly ran down the corridor. “Please, I need to talk to you for just a second.”

Angel slowed to a pace that was only a bit more sedate. “What is it?” he said in a rush.

Wesley took a second to catch his breath. “What I was saying before,” he began to explain, “are you sure this is your sister?”

Angel looked at him sharply. “Of course she is!” he said.

“I don’t mean to doubt you,” Wesley said calmly. “But...we have no idea what is going on.”

They were outside the room the doctor had directed them to, now. Angel froze. He could see her there, through the window, stretched out on the bed with her neck heavily bandaged. “She recognized me,” Angel said softly. “She called me....” He couldn’t say it. He hadn’t gone by his human name since the night he had killed her. Thought he’d killed her.

“Oh,” Wesley said just as softly. Then a worried expression came over him. “Oh dear.”

“What?”

“She recognized you? And I would hazard a guess as to who inflicted the wound upon her neck.”

“You know I did,” Angel said sharply.

“Yes. And can you imagine what might happen if she wakes up and tells the doctors here that?” He looked at Angel seriously. “We’re going to have to handle this quite delicately. I imagine she is more than a bit...terrified of you right now.”

Angel swallowed hard and stared through the room’s window at the sleeping occupant. He hadn’t... He didn’t think.... He couldn’t imagine the one member of his family he remembered loving him no matter what suddenly hating him. Fearing him. He wasn’t sure he could bear to see that. “What do you suggest?” he asked very softly.

Why the hell did I ever put myself to work for a vampire?

Cordelia Chase had been in a lot of strange situations since she’d first found out about vampires and demons and other creatures of the night in high school. She’d been nearly sacrificed and otherwise killed more than once. She’d been involved in strange spells and rituals. The speaker at her high school graduation had the unique grand finale of turning into a demon and attempting to eat the senior class. And that’s what she got for growing up on the hellmouth.

But she wasn’t on the hellmouth anymore. In L.A., the only demons were supposed to be the television kind, and she was supposed to be the beautiful actress who was rescued from them on screen. Or no – she was the actress who did the rescuing. Yeah, that was a better image.

Her acting career hadn’t taken off, however. Instead, she had found herself in the employ of yet another Sunnydale refugee – Angel, a vampire, but a good one. Most of the time. Prowling the night fighting the forces of darkness or whatever. And that’s where things got really strange.

It was like everything that had happened to them in Sunnydale was only a training mission for the really weird stuff. Then there came the visions, migraines with pictures from the ‘Powers That Be’ to direct their little motley band to the people they were supposed to help. There was no turning away from the weirdness anymore. But she’d thought there was a point where things weren’t supposed to get any weirder.

But they did get weirder. And that’s how Cordelia Chase, aspiring actress, ended up at the hospital bedside of a girl who was supposed to be dead over two centuries ago. Never mind the fact that she was killed by that vampire who was now considered one of the good guys. And never mind that she was that same vampire’s human sister.

Nope, this situation was completely one of a kind.

“What in the world do you expect me to do?” Cordelia asked in an annoyed whisper.

Wesley looked a bit at a loss. “Just...try and calm her. She is likely to be quite upset and confused. You need to help her understand what has happened.”

“You make that sound so easy,” Cordelia muttered.

“Just try,” Wesley insisted. “We do not want to cause a panic, nor have her brought to psychiatric attention. Or, god forbid, have Angel brought to police attention.”

Cordelia grumbled a bit more, but she knew she’d do it. “So basically, ‘hi, you’re 250 years in the future, and by the way – please don’t try to attack Angel because he’s really a good guy now, even though he’s a vampire.’ Did I get it?”

The three men shifted a bit uncomfortably.

“Liam,” Angel said abruptly.

“What?”

He was looking towards the room, and he sighed heavily. “She knows me as Liam,” he explained. “Not Angel.”

Okay....

“And I’ll be right here in case you need support,” Wesley said. “Someone to back up your story.”

Cordelia nodded, and went to open the door.

“Cordelia.”

She looked back to meet Angel’s pained gaze. “Yes?”

“Thank you,” he said softly.

Cordelia just nodded, and entered the hospital room.

In the past couple of years, Cordelia had gotten to hate hospitals. There were all the times that she had been a patient, and then there were the times that friends had. She’d seen the inside of hospitals far too many times. Still, Cordelia had to go through with this. Someone had to, and the guys had decided she’d be the least threatening to the frightened girl. So, she didn’t really have a choice.

She pulled the room’s one chair over to the bedside. Looking at the girl now, she could see the resemblance to Angel. Just enough to realize they were related. There were slight bits of facial structure, and their hair was the same color. Cordelia would not be at all surprised if when she woke up her eyes were the same color, too. The girl’s paleness only enhanced the illusion. Of course, that was paleness brought on by blood loss, not deathly avoidance of the sun. The bandage taped to the girl’s neck was easy evidence as to the cause.

Cordelia sat and watched the sleeping girl for what felt like hours. She watched the girl breathe in an easy, slow rhythm. She listened to the sounds of hospital machinery. It was late. The sounds were starting to lull Cordelia to sleep, no matter how hard she fought to stay awake. Had any of the guys considered what might happen if she didn’t wake up before some doctor came to kick them out? And if she didn’t get some sleep soon...

A brief whimper interrupted Cordelia’s thoughts. Her eyes snapped open to meet the wide, terrified eyes of the girl she was waiting for.

Oh boy...

“Shh,” Cordelia said, trying her best to be calming. She didn’t really have much experience with older children. Not that any experience really would have been helpful in this situation... “It’s okay.”

The girl – Angel’s sister, Kathy – looked at her in fear and confusion. “I...” she tried to begin.

“It’s okay,” Cordelia said again. “You’re okay. You’re in a hospital.”

She seemed to calm slightly, though her eyes were still unusually wide. She blinked at Cordelia. “Where am I?” she said.

It took Cordelia a second to understand her thick, Irish accent. “Like I said, you’re in a hospital.”

A hint of suspicion entered Kathy’s gaze, momentarily overriding her fear. “I donna’ know yer accent,” she said. Then more suspicious, “I donna’ know ye.”

Cordelia was never one to tell anything other than the total truth. She tried to soften it as best she could, though. “You’re a long way from home, Kathy,” she said gently.

“And who are ye?”

“I’m Cordelia,” she replied easily. Then, at the girl’s expectant face, she added, “I’m a friend of your brother’s.”

Kathy’s reaction wasn’t what Cordelia had been hoping for, but it was similar to what they’d expected. Her hand flew to the wound at her neck, carefully bandaged by the doctors, at the same time as she sat up in bed and tried to scoot as far away from Cordelia as possible.

“Easy,” Cordelia said, holding out a placating hand. “It’s alright. Let me explain.”

“Explain what?” Kathy demanded, her voice higher with a touch of fear. “He’s a monster!”

Cordelia swallowed and stayed calm. “A vampire, yes,” she agreed. “But things...aren’t quite as you think they are. Please, listen to me. I promise, nothing is going to happen to you.”

“Ye promise?” the girl asked hopefully.

“I do. Nothing will happen to you here.” Cordelia held out a hand in entreaty. “Please, just listen to me. That’s all you need to do.”

The girl frowned, but sank back a bit into her bed. “I’m listenin’,” she said.

Cordelia sighed. “This is going to sound really, really crazy, but I swear it’s the truth,” she said. “You’re in America. Like all the way across the globe from where you were, nearly. And you died – should have died – two hundred and fifty years ago. We don’t know how you came to be here.”

Kathy just blinked at her for a second. “I... Ye lie,” she said. There was complete and total denial in her voice.

“No.”

“Ye donna lie?” she asked a bit helplessly.

“I don’t lie. I promise.” Cordelia only hoped she believed it.

“Then...how do ye know me brother?” Kathy asked, her expression wary. And still fearful. Cordelia supposed she could understand that. If she knew her brother was...what he was, how did she think of anyone claiming to be his friend?

Cordelia said as easily as possible, “I work with him.”

Kathy stared at her. “Work?” she asked. She laughed slightly, a bit sad. “Now I know ye lie.”

Cordelia sighed. “Listen, I’m not lying.” Her voice was louder than she meant it, frustrated.

“Ye be crazy,” Kathy insisted. “’Tis all a lie. I want to go home!”

“You can’t go home,” Cordelia tried to explain. “Your home is halfway around the globe and over two centuries in the past!” Yes, she was getting a bit frustrated.

“Tis not possible,” Kathy argued. “I was home last night! And ye canna travel in time!”

Cordelia did not know what to do with that statement. “Wesley!”

As summoned, the Englishman appeared in the doorway. “Yes?” He looked over at the bed and smiled when he saw the girl awake and alert. “Kathy. It is good to see you recovering,” he said.

Kathy just frowned. “She is crazy,” she insisted.

“I assure you, Cordelia is quite sane,” Wesley replied easily, coming to stand at her side. “It is the year 2001.”

If possible, Kathy paled a bit more, and her fear returned. “’Tis true?” she asked, clearly giving in...and giving up hope.

Wesley nodded. “Yes, it’s true.”

“Then...all me family is dead.” Now she looked just about ready to cry.

“Technically...yes,” Wesley agreed sadly. “But your brother...”

“Is dead,” Kathy insisted. Defiance and fear.

“Your brother,” Cordelia said, a bit angry on his behalf, “is the one that brought you here.”

“He is also the one that put me here,” Kathy said, meeting her anger with one hand pressed again to her neck. She winced. “How can ye be friends with a monster?”

“Your brother is not a monster!” Cordelia tried, upset. In her heart, she knew the girl was snapping at her out of conflicted emotions, but Cordelia couldn’t help but give as good as she got.

“It is not that simple,” Wesley said, remaining calm. “A lot of time has passed. Things have changed. He is actually quite unique among...” The expression on Kathy’s face stopped him. Stubborn, covering anger, fear, confusion...and a barely disguised sadness. “Believe it or not,” he insisted. “If you wish to leave here, you must not speak of this to the doctors that check on you. Most people do not believe in vampires. We have told them a wild animal attacked you, and I’m afraid that if you tell them the truth they may not release you.”

“Are ye threatenin’ me?” Now her fear was transferred slightly to the people in front of her.

“No,” Wesley said calmly. “I am merely telling you the truth.”

“I would like to help you,” Cordelia said. “We all would. I would like to be your friend as well, if you’ll let me.”

Kathy’s expression softened a bit. “Ye mean that?” She seemed ready to grasp onto any tiny bit of hope.

“I do.”

Still, she looked sad. “And...I canna go home?”

Wesley gave her a sad smile. “Your home is long gone,” he said. “And even if we did know how to send you back, you died long ago. We don’t even know how you got here.”

Kathy looked down, away from both of them. “Oh,” she whispered.

“Kathy,” Wesley said, “do you remember how you got here?”

Kathy blinked up at him for a second, and Cordelia thought she saw the beginnings of tears in the girl’s eyes. “I...thought he’d come back from the dead,” she said pitifully, and there was no need to ask who ‘he’ was. “But...he didna. He bit me...and then I was somewhere else. It was dark. And he was there, too... And I woke here.”

“He found you,” Cordelia said gently. “He brought you here for the doctors to see.”

“Why?” Kathy asked. “Why kill me and then cure me?” She looked so sad and lost that Cordelia was truly touched.

“It’s a long story,” she began.

The door opened again, and for a moment no one spoke. Angel stood there, a pained expression clearly evident on his face. He looked at them, then locked his gaze with Wesley’s to avoid looking anywhere else. “The doctor...says we can take her home as soon as we bring some clothes for her,” he said softly.

Cordelia felt Kathy tense. “I’ll find something,” Cordelia said pleasantly. “I think we girls are going to have to go shopping for a whole new wardrobe.”

Angel dared a glance at Kathy, then looked quickly away. He nodded, and then left, shutting the door behind him.

Cordelia dared a glance at the girl, and sighed. Her expression was so distraught – pain, confusion, anger, fear were all there – that she seemed completely lost. Lost she actually was, Cordelia realized. She’d lost her home, her time...and her family, at her dead brother’s hands. Cordelia hadn’t the faintest clue of anything that could make that sort of situation better.

But...well, shopping was a start.