Disclaimer: I own nothing but the words. Alas, as pretty as the characters are, they belong to Joss, our leader, and the rest of ME. Shame, really. I treat 'em nicer.
Distribution: Please, distribute at will. Just keep the name on the tin (i.e. MINE) and I won't hunt you down and wear your skin like a coat. Plagiarists get flayed, people!
A/N: For the person who reviewed my fic "Staring into Forever and Nothing", who wrote this and made me really want to write more:
random person:So today I was thinking, "gee, I wish there was a C/A fic I hadn't read yet. And there was! Not only that, but it was a devastatingly sad, beautiful, poetic one-shot. It is a truly wonderful little piece you've shared with us. I can only hope you'll share more (wink wink nudge nudge). Anyway, great job, and don't get discouraged if you don't get too many reviews. Sometimes I think I'm the only one left lurking the web for more C/A. ;)The three of them had just lain there for hours. Cordy's head lay idly on the pillow as she watched Baby Connor sleep, Angel's arm cradling his son, as in the soft silence he listened to them both breathe. It was there, in the perfect stillness where the friends, watching the slumbering child between them, slipped lightly from consciousness into sleep. None of the draining bulk of dreams weighed them down, just the softest kiss of darkness granting deserving souls mere moments of rest.
But something bled through the darkness to rouse the sleeping child. Baby Connor's green eyes fluttered violently open and he stretched newly-formed lungs in an Earth shattering cry.
Cordelia's eyes were prised open by the screams of the shrieking baby. One foot sprang out to kick the sleeping Vampire's shin. "Angel", she mumbled sleepily, "baby."
Angel grumbled in his sleep and rolled onto his back, releasing hold of his son.
Connor's cries grew louder as Cordy's kicks became more violent. "Angel" she moaned insistently, "fix your kid!"
Angel's eyes remained screwed shut.
"Dammit! Ugh." Cordelia rolled off of the bed and picked up the screaming baby whilst eying his father dirtily. Rocking and bouncing the child, whispering soothingly to him in short, angry bursts she realised what was wrong. And it was very wrong. "Eww…" Sighing, and flicking on the lamp beside the bed she lay Connor down on Angel's dresser. "Okay, time to open my present."
This was the stuff of a teenage Cordy's nightmares. Now it was… still unpleasant. The brunette grit her teeth. "Kid", she said to the baby whilst changing his inhumanly full diaper, "you're lucky you're so cute." She fastened the clean diaper around soft chubby legs and cooed, rubbing her nose against his tiny one in the barest brush of an Eskimo kiss. "Because", she continued, in a baby-voice, "you're a nasty little monster when you crap."
Connor writhed on the dresser and giggled at the sleepy, pissed off woman hovering over him. Lifting him and cradling the now happy baby close to her chest, she glared scathingly down at the Vampire Dad pretending to sleep. "And you, Sleeping Broody, I know you're awake." She shoved the baby into Angel's waiting arms. "I just wiped shit off your baby's ass. Don't think we won't have words in the morning."
Angel opened one tentative eye and his lips spread into a laconic grin, "so, you're gonna stay the night?"
Cordelia glanced at the clock and sighed, "well, it's four AM and I really can't be assed to go hoist myself into my car and stay awake at the wheel, not when there's a perfectly good bed right here…" She grinned savagely. "Shove up." She pushed the Vampire over to make room for herself on the soft bed, climbing in beside him. Connor once more lay nestled between their bodies, tiny mouth ajar in a feline yawn as he dropped quickly unconscious. "'Night, Angel", Cordy whispered as once again she felt herself drifting into sleep.
With his cheek resting on her shoulder, lids curtaining on sleepless eyes, Angel whispered, almost silent, "I love you."
"What?" Cordy mumbled through the fog of sleep.
"Nothing."