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*****
December 24, 2017
San Francisco, CA
Katherine Boyle started as the phone rang shrilly.
She moved quickly to answer it,
knowing that her father was in a meeting and everyone else was gone.
"Luna Foundation,"
she said professionally into the phone.
"Kat?" Xander asked, confused. "Where's your
dad?"
"He's in a meeting with Derek," she answered.
"Why are you answering the phone? Where's
everyone else?"
"Mom went next door to talk to Alex," Kat smiled.
"I'm just waiting for everyone to come
back for lunch and I thought I'd answer the phone. Where are
you?" she asked, finally
realizing that Xander shouldn't have been calling. He had left
the day before ready to go to
Sunnydale for Christmas. He was supposed to return to San Francisco
the day after
Christmas and return to work the day after that.
"I'm in L.A. That's why I need to talk to
your dad. I'm going to have to stay longer than I
thought," Xander explained, his voice cracking slightly.
The psychic in Kat went into hyperdrive when she
heard Xander's voice break. Something
was wrong, she could tell, but she didn't want to push into his mind
to find out what. She
decided to settle for asking him, "Xander? What's wrong?"
Xander smiled weakly at the other end of the line.
Her concern was evident and he wished
he could do something to push it aside. He knew that what he
was about to say would break
her heart, but he didn't see any way around it. "Um, it's Cordelia,
sweetie. Do you
remember her?"
"Yes, of course I do," Kat answered, a lump rising
in her throat. She, along with the rest of
the Legacy members, had adored Cordelia. Of course, they adored
all of Xander's friends.
Derek and Alex had immediately taken to Melissa, discussing their psychic
abilities. Rachel
and Drusilla had engaged in lengthy conversations about how Dru had
managed to save her
own sanity. Rachel thought it would help her deal with her patients.
And Nick had become
fast friends with Buffy and Spike, discussing weaponry and optimal
fighting stances. Of all of
Xander's friends, though, Kat loved Willow, Cordelia, and Oz the most.
They were quiet and
gentle, except when Willow was slaying vampires. Now she was
afraid that something had
happened to Cordelia. "What happened?"
"Cordelia and her daughter died last night," he
answered in a choked voice.
"Oh God," Kat breathed, as Nick and Derek entered
the room. Tears poured down her
cheek as she looked up at the man she called her father. "Dad,"
she said through her tears.
"Xander's on the phone."
Nick moved to take the phone from Kat's hand, putting
an arm around his daughter's
shoulders. He and Rachel had been married for 17 years, and in
that time Nick had come to
think of Kat as his own child. Of course, she wasn't really a
child any more, but he still felt like
it was his duty to protect her. He loved her fiercely, as much
as any father would love his
child, and he had adopted her shortly after he and Rachel had married.
They had discussed
it at length with Kat, and they had decided that Rachel's late husband
Patrick would not mind.
Kat had been ecstatic. Nick was the ideal father, fun and not
overly strict but protective. Kat
had adored him since the moment she met him, and she was delighted
to have him as her
father. As Nick took the phone from her hand, Kat put her head
on his shoulder. "Hello?"
Nick said into the phone.
"Nick," Xander said to the Precept. "I'm not
going to be back quite as soon as I thought."
"What's wrong?" Nick asked, concern for both his
friend and his daughter in his voice.
"Cordelia and Willow died last night," Xander answered,
his voice weary.
"Willow? Cordelia's daughter or your wife?"
"Oh," Xander said. "Cordelia's daughter."
"Oh God," Nick echoed Kat's reaction to the news.
"Poor Oz. What happened?"
"I guess a drunk driver went through a red light
and slammed into their car. I don't really
have all the details. Oz is obviously in no shape to explain
everything. Cordelia's mom called
to tell Willow last night, but she didn't go into detail. The
funeral is set for two days after
Christmas. I have to stay at least until then. I might
need to stay after that, though, because
everyone else needs to go back to work. Someone needs to be here
to take care of Oz for a
while. Will you be okay without me for a week or so?" Xander
asked.
"We'll be fine. Your wife and friends need
you way more than we do right now. Ever since
Willow closed all the Hellmouths things have been pretty slow.
We'll just pile all of our
research stuff up on your desk so it'll be here when you get back,"
he joked lamely.
"Gee thanks," Xander answered, trying to adopt a
lighter tone. "Well, I'd better go. Take
care of Rachel and Kat, okay?"
"Of course," Nick responded. "You take care
of Willow and everyone else. Tell Oz how
sorry I am."
"I will. I'll see you when I get home," Xander
said, hanging up the phone.
Nick put the phone back in the cradle and hugged
his daughter tightly. "I'm sorry, Kitty Kat,"
he said, using his old nickname for her. Kat sobbed against his
shoulder. It had been over
twenty years since anyone she loved had died and she just didn't know
what to do. Cordelia
was one of the best people Kat had ever known and she felt her loss
keenly. Nick held her
until her sobs subsided and then drew back. "Well," he said.
"I guess we'll have to take care
of everything until Xander gets back. We should make sure his
newspaper and mail get taken
in, shouldn't we?" He knew that having something to do would
help Kat deal with her pain.
"Yes," she answered, smiling bravely. "I can
take care of that."
"Good," Nick responded, also putting on his best
happy face. "Now, let's go tell Rachel and
Alex. Come on Derek. I'll explain it to you there, too,"
he said to the confused former
Precept.
*****
December 27, 2017
Los Angeles, CA
Willow stepped out of her car and squinted up at
the midafternoon sun. It was unnatural for
it to be sunny on a day like this, she thought. There should
at least be some clouds or
something. They were burying a friend today, and yet the sun
still stubbornly continued to
shine brightly. She replayed the moment she had heard of her
friend's death in her mind,
and the memory brought tears to her eyes. As she walked up the
steps to the church, Xander
and Melly beside her, she looked around at her friends, who all arrived
at the same time.
Their eyes were all rimmed in red for they had all been crying, thinking
of Cordelia.
As they took their places at the front of the church,
Willow glanced behind her. Her heart
filled with a quiet joy to see the many mourners. There was an
assortment of hospital
employees, volunteers, and even a few nuns from the soup kitchen as
well as homeless
people Cordelia had helped in her many volunteer activities.
"Everyone loved Cordelia," she
thought, smiling sadly. They had opted not to hold a public funeral
for Willow, knowing that it
would be too painful for Oz. Instead, the friends and family
would stay at the cemetery after
Cordelia's burial to say a few words at Willow's small grave.
Willow let her mind wander as the minister led the
assemblage in prayer and spoke of
Cordelia's many good deeds. She knew all about them, of course,
and hearing them
repeated would only make it more painful. She thought instead
of happier times like
Cordelia's wedding day, when she had been about as happy as any person
could. She also
remembered little Willow's first birthday and how her mother had beamed
with pride. The
memories just poured into Willow's consciousness, one after the other.
There were hundreds
of images of Cordelia laughing and smiling and making everyone around
her happy. It was
funny, Willow thought. Of all of them, Cordelia was the one who
was the most unhappy
during high school. Because of this unhappiness, she had made
everyone around her
miserable. It had taken her a long time to find her place in
the world. Once she finally did,
though, she made up for it by bringing joy into the lives of every
person she met. Willow was
proud of her, prouder than she had ever been of anybody.
"And now, Cordelia's husband would like to say a
few words," the minister said, breaking
into Willow's thoughts.
She watched sadly as Oz rose and headed up to the
front of the church. He stepped
tentatively up to the microphone and then cleared his throat.
In a voice cracking with emotion,
he said, "First I would like to thank all of you for being here today.
Cordelia would have loved
to see you all, and I know she's looking down on this smiling.
I found a poem that describes
how I feel today. Cordelia would have loved it," he said, tears
streaming down his cheeks.
"It's called 'An Angel Among Us'," he unfolded a piece of paper and
then started to read:
Every now and then someone special comes along,
who doesn't judge and fails to heed
gossip clouding our innately decent song.
Someone with a hope, a laugh, a deed
of purely good intent,
like a silent shadow in the back with little to
repent.
Why must it be too late?
Why must it be too late,
when we find out how blessed we are,
without any disagreement or debate
to realize that this star
has been sitting among us all the while
without a frown, but with an ethereal smile.
Why must it be too late?
Amidst the routine of daily chores,
which spread their dangerous lies about,
life becomes a constant without any new doors,
and security is warm, leaving little room to doubt,
that life will always stay this good; life will
never be that bad
times of eternal youth are forever to be had.
Why must it be too late?
Oz's voice trailed off as he started to sob. The room was silent
for several moments and then
Willow rose and walked to the front of the church. Putting an
arm around her friend's
shoulder, she pulled the paper out of his hand and took a deep breath.
Her voice shook as
she started to read:
Yet this time is when the unpredictable happens,
a someone disappears.
The score hardly seems even,
take someone old with many years,
instead of youth and beauty
kindness, love and moral piety.
Must it be too late?
Now someones come and someones go,
throughout life's merry-go-round,
luck has granted us a chance to know
a someone who when things are down
does not hide behind a wall,
and when he or she is gone,
we find peace in knowing that an angel touched us
all.
As she finished the poem, Willow looked up from the paper she held to
look at the group of
people who had come to pay their respects. Every person in the
room had tears in his eyes,
and a smile on his face, which was as it should be. Cordelia
would have never stood for
everyone to be completely saddened. She would have insisted on
them finding some small
bit of joy and holding onto it. Willow smiled back at them and
took her place by her husband's
side, laying her head on Xander's shoulder.
*****
December 28, 2017
Los Angeles, CA
Xander glanced around Oz's living room one more
time. He felt terrible about leaving Oz
alone, but he had insisted that he would be okay. "I won't really
be alone," he had told them.
"Cordelia's sister and mother will stop by probably every day.
Don't worry," he had insisted,
sensing Willow's objection. "I'll be fine. You guys need
to get home." So now Xander was
preparing to leave with his wife and daughter. Everyone else
had departed less than an hour
before, and Willow was just checking on a few last minute details.
Oz sat on the sofa, waiting
for them to be ready to leave.
Willow entered the living room, satisfied that she
had done as much as she could. They
had packed away all of Willow's things and put them in boxes.
They left the boxes in her
room so that Oz could look through them when he was ready, but they
knew it was too soon.
She had also prepared meals for the next week or so and put them in
the freezer. She
wanted to make Oz's life as easy as possible without making him feel
like they were stifling
him. She hoped that she succeeded. As her gaze lit on Oz,
she sighed. "He looks like he
doesn't even know where he is," she thought sadly. She walked
over to the couch and stood
in front of her friend. "Hey," she said softly. As he lifted
his head to meet her gaze, she
gasped. His eyes were lifeless and a realization hit her as she
looked at him. "He won't live
a year," she thought sadly to herself. Then she smiled softly
and hugged Oz. "Call if you
need anything," she whispered in his ear and then released him.
She headed for the door
and then changed her mind, turning back. She put her arms around
him again and said,
"Goodbye." Then she turned and walked to the door while Xander
and Melly said goodbye to
Oz as well.
*****
February 25, 2018
San Francisco, CA
Xander, Spike, and Melissa sat at the kitchen table
talking and laughing while Willow
prepared dinner. They had all offered to help, but Willow had
pushed them away from the
stove, insisting that they would just destroy the meal she was preparing.
Spike was telling
them about his day at work, causing the whole group to laugh hysterically.
He may have
been pretty much human now, but he had not yet adapted to working for
a living. His
comments about his colleagues were usually quite colorful and enormously
hilarious. As they
laughed, the phone rang and Willow moved to answer it. The group
quieted so that she could
hear.
"Hello?" she asked, still smiling at Spike's story.
When she heard the voice at the other end
of the line, the smile faded. As she listened, tears started
streaming down her cheek. Xander
rose in alarm and was quickly at her side to comfort her. "Y-yes
Mrs. Chase," she said
through her tears. "I'm still here," she raised her tear-stained
cheek to look at Melissa and
Spike. "Th-thank you for calling. We'll be there as soon
as we can."
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