Title: Three Little Words (2/3)
Author: Dolores Labouchere
E-mail: dolores_l@h...
Summary: Oz finally confronts Xander, talks to an old friend, and challenges 
Angel.
Spoilers: Some small references to events in Seasons 2 & 3 of Buffy and 
Season 1 of Angel.
Rating: R for language and slashy situations (implied O/A and O/X)
Distribution: UCSL, Ozslash, diminished ninth, and Dolores' Domain, 
otherwise just ask
Disclaimer: They're not mine, they never have been and they probably never 
will be.  I promise to put them back when I'm finished although they might 
be slightly soiled.
Notes: Next in the 'Driftwood' series, following on from 'Hobson's Choice'.  
All previous parts are, as ever, on UCSL and Dolores' Domain archives.  
Sorry this has taken quite so long to do; I started a new job and moved 
house and had a complete lack of inspiration over the last few months and 
that's meant that this has taken a lot longer to complete than I intended.  
Thank you to all those who asked where the next part was, and special thanks 
and love to the beautiful 'Reesa and the gorgeous Faithtastic for their 
beta'ing skills, and seeing as they've been the ones who were most wanting 
this, it's for you m'dears.

This is an AU where Oz left in the middle of the summer between High School 
and college, so he didn't go to LA, didn't cheat on Willow with Veruca, and 
didn't find a cure.  Oh, and Tara never got it together with Willow (Xander 
did instead).

"This I not a novel to be tossed aside lightly.  It should be thrown with 
great force." – Dorothy Parker


***

Cordelia and Oz settled into the booth at the coffee shop, him with a mocha, 
her with a non-fat latte.  He took a moment to study her.  He hadn't seen 
Cordelia since just after the battle with the Mayor. She'd left to find fame 
and fortune in LA, and that was the last he had seen her before she nearly 
caused a pile-up ten minutes earlier.

She was still beautiful, but her features were thinner, almost gaunt.  Her 
long black hair still flowed down her back, and her fashion sense appeared 
to be as acute as ever, a chic blue dress forming today's outfit.  Her eyes 
had softened around the edges, though; she seemed to have lost some of her 
old bitchiness.

"Have you seen Willow?  That girl has sooo let herself slip.  And that's not 
easy when you weren't that high up in the first place."

OK, maybe not.

"Cordelia, are you forgetting that I dated Willow for over a year?"

"Yuh, and then she cheated on you with *my* boyfriend."

"True, but I still loved her.  And thought she was beautiful."

There was a brief, heavily pregnant pause before Cordelia decided to change 
the subject.

"So how are *you*?!" she enthused, having already given Oz a bear hug when 
she met him on the street, then insisting he go with her in the rental car 
("I still can't afford my own," she had said ruefully) to drive to the 
nearest café.  They'd already exchanged pleasantries then, but evidently she 
felt the need to do so again.

"Still good."

"Still talkative," she said, with a smirk.

"How you get the chance to say anything I’ll never know."

She pursed her lips.  "Very funny.  So, are you back from the wedding?  Oh, 
of course you are; why else would you come back," she paused and gave a 
disparaging look out of the window, "*here*?"

"Yeah, the wedding.  You also?"

"Yeah.  God, seeing them together twists a knife in my gut, and I *really* 
don't want them to be happy, but I'm over my bitterness.  Honestly.  And, 
hey, who am I to refuse free champagne?"

Oz simply looked at Cordelia in reply.

"And, OK, Angel made me go."

"Angel?  You're here with him?"

She laughed at that.  "Yes, but, eww, no.  I'm here with him, but not *with* 
him.  Apart from the fact that that would just be, well, eww, he's still all 
broody about Buffy.  No-one has been in his leather pants since.  Which is 
no bad thing, considering."

Oz smiled at that.  "Do you and Angel still see each other?" he asked.  
Angel had mentioned that he now lived in LA last night, but he hadn't said 
anything about Cordelia.

"Well, duh!  We work together.  Y'know, Angel Investigations?"

Oz remained expressionless.

"You really are out of the loop, aren't you?"

Cordy proceeded to explain in great length about the detective agency to Oz, 
about Wesley and Gunn, and all the weirdness of the past six years since 
she'd left Sunnydale.

At the end, Oz gave Cordelia an admiring look.  "Living with a poltergeist.  
I like that."

"Dennis is cool. Although he's really addicted to Sally Jesse Raphael."

"The curse of daytime TV, huh.  Buffy should do something about that."

Cordelia narrowed her eyes, taking some slight Oz wasn't aware of.  "You 
watch Sally too?" he asked, the possibility that she was a fan too crossing 
his mind.

"When I have the time!" she breathed indignantly.

"Why, what else have you been doing?"

Cordy looked at him.  "What do you mean what else have I been doing?  They 
have TV sets in Canada, don't they?"

"Not in my house"

She snorted.  "Even *Wesley* has a television."

He shrugged.  "I couldn't afford one when I first got up there – I had to 
sell my van just to pay the deposit on my apartment, and then when I could I 
figured I didn't need one."

She pouted.  "You don't have cable?!  I am one of the stars of the acclaimed 
*daytime* drama serial 'Heart's Desire'!"

"Macauley barely has electricity, Cordelia, never mind cable television."

She wrinkled her nose in disgust.  "God, why'd you move to Amish country?"

"I like churning butter," he deadpanned.  Cordelia just glared.  "So you're 
a soap star?"

"'Heart's Desire' is *not* a soap," she snapped.

Oz just smiled.

Cordelia sighed and her bravado deflated.  "Well, I was.  It got cancelled 
last month.  Y'think I'd be here otherwise?"

She pulled a packet of Lucky Strikes from her bag, removed a cigarette and 
lit it with a gold lighter.  Taking a long draw, she then pulled it from her 
lips and looked at Oz.

"So that's my life story.  What about you?  Why did you go?  Where did you 
go?" she leaned into him, cigarette smoke spiralling upwards, "Did I hear 
right that you cheated on Willow?"

Quietly, he replied, "Yeah."

Cordy sat back with a grin on her face.  "Cool.  Y'know, that would have 
been the *only* reason I would have taken him back.  To cheat on him and 
humiliate that bastard like he did me."

"I didn't do it to humiliate Willow."

"No, I guess *you* wouldn't.  But it did have that happy side effect.  So 
who was it?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does!  I need to know!"

"Cordelia. . ."

She blew some smoke out.  "Oh, Oz, c'mon.  Much as I hate to admit it, I do 
miss all of the gossip."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"What?  I've spent eight years up to my Maybelline mascara in demons, 
vampires and lawyers.  *Nothing* can shock me."

"Cordy… if I tell you, you *have* to promise not to say anything."  Great, 
he thought, I'm about to tell someone else.

She placed a manicured hand to her chest and looked sincerely into Oz's 
eyes.  "Oz, I am a soul of discretion."  Aren't they always?

Taking a deep breath, he said, "The summer you left for LA. . . Xander and I 
went on a road trip."

"Uh-huh."

"And. . . we bonded."

"Uh-huh."

"Cordelia, we *bonded*."

"Well, that's great, I'm glad you got over him stealing Willow.  Now, moving 
onto your little vixen, or whatever it is they call lady wolves. . ."

"Bitches."

"Whatever.  Although that is appropriate.  But anyway, move onto her.  Who 
is she?"

"Xander."

Cordelia opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again.  She 
opened it once more, then thoughtfully took a drag on the cigarette.  
Finally, then the name hit home and her eyes widened, and she gaped like a 
goldfish with lipstick.  The cigarette was thrust back into her mouth, and 
she inhaled deeply, the tip glowing red-hot as the oxygen rushed through the 
tobacco.

Oz waited patiently for her verbal reaction.

Through a cloud of blue smoke she raged, "Xander!  What were you thinking?"

"I'm not altogether sure."

"But Xander?!  I mean, what strange power does that boy have over us?  First 
me, then Willow, then Faith and now *you*?  He's more of a slut than I ever 
was."

"Not now."

"What?"

"Xander and I are not of the now.  We are of the then, and Willow is of the 
now."

After another drag, she growled, "Don't get technical on me.  You know what 
I mean."  Cordy's annoyed look changed to one of shocked confusion.  "What 
is it with him, though?  He isn't *that* attractive.  We all know he isn't 
intelligent.  He hasn't got money, or power, or any relatives with same.  
Why do women… and you! fall at his feet?"

"I don't know. . . it's not something I planned, Cor."

"You and me both.  You didn't have any maggot demons after you at the time, 
did you?"

"Not that I remember."

"See?  You don't even have that excuse."

"That's why I left Sunnydale.  I'd just cheated on Willow with one of her 
best friends, and well, I loved him."

Cordelia gave him a sympathetic smile, "You too, huh?"

"So I couldn’t stay loving both of them, and having to choose one."

Cordelia sighed.  "I wish 'Heart's Desire' had had storylines like that.  We 
wouldn't have gotten cancelled."

Oz smiled again, to a triumphant grin from Cordelia.  "I got Oz to react.  
I'm good."

She puffed on her cigarette a last time, then stubbed it out in the ashtray 
and then looked pensively out of the window.  "Hey, I can't believe Willow 
is going to marry the schmuck.  I'd sooo never date a bisexual."

"Cordelia, you did."

She glared at Oz, and snapped "He wasn't then, that was your influence.  Or 
possibly he recognised that, after me, no woman would be good enough."

Cordelia preened at this thought, whilst Oz shook his head and rolled his 
eyes.

"Anyway, you don't think Willow's at all wigged by this situation?"

"Cordy, she doesn't know."

"About you and Xander?!"

"No."

"But. . . but. . . you mean Xander hasn't told her?!"

Cordelia's shouting brought looks from the other patrons of the coffee bar.

"He's not going to before they get married.  He says that he doesn't want to 
ruin things."

"Oh, hello?  Like he didn't already do that by fucking you."

"It was six years ago."

"So?  Oz, you were seeing Willow at the time.  You were bad and he was very 
bad.  He stole each of you from the other."

"We were hardly coerced."

"That's besides the point.  It proves he can't be trusted."

"Cordelia, I don't think he has ever been unfaithful in the time he has been 
dating Will.  That was my bad."

"Oz, he cheated on me, let's not lose sight of that."

"I remember."

Ignoring him, she continued, ". . .and here he is assisting you in cheating 
on her.  Do you really think he doesn't have it in him to cheat again?"

"Will trusts him."

"Well I don't.  Willow isn't exactly the best judge of character when it 
comes to boys.  She told me about that internet demon."

Oz raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, you don't count, you chose her."

"It was her decision after I became a werewolf."

"Yeah, but you made the first move.  And like Willow is going to get a 
better offer."

"Cordy. . ."

"I know, I know, no insulting Willow," she waved a hand at Oz's face, 
"whatever.  To get back to my point, she only trusts Xander because he has 
never given her a reason not to.  That *she* knows of.  The only worse thing 
than Xander – or anyone – cheating on me would be not knowing about it."

"But he didn't cheat on Willow.  I did."

"He was her best friend, supposedly.  He might as well have done."

"I came down here wanting to make sure Willow would be happy. She seems – 
no, she *is*.  I don't want to make her unhappy again."

"Telling her now means she has the decision to end things now without 
divorce lawyers.  Believe me, you don't want them.  Mom had to use them 
after Daddy had his little encounter with the IRS people.  It was *not* 
nice."

"He says he will tell her once things are settled.  And I believe him."

"That's great, Oz.  Once she's married to him, probably pregnant for good 
measure, Captain Courageous will tell her.  Woo-hoo.  C'mon!  When you buy 
something from a store they don't add in the small print later, and say 
'it's too late, you've bought it now'.  Willow needs to have read all of the 
small print before she buys Xander.  I don't want to hurt Xander, but if he 
isn't man enough to tell Willow you're going to have to."

Oz sat in silence for a moment, to a sigh from Cordelia, who lit another 
cigarette.

"I don't know if I can. I promised Xander I wouldn't."

"Yeah, and I'm sure you also told Willow you'd be faithful.  Look, Oz, I 
don't really like Willow.  I hold grudges, for a long time.  I'm like an 
elephant."  She paused. "Forget I said that. What I mean is that I'm not 
going to pretend I'm friends with Willow – after all, she was the skanky ho 
who stole my pathetic boyfriend in the most humiliating episode of my high 
school career.  And, yeah, I know, it's been six years.  What can I say? I 
like to bitch.  It's fun.  But, she has saved my ass a few times and so I 
afford her some respect.  If I were stupid enough to want to marry Xander 
I'd want to know exactly what I was doing."

Oz looked at her.  "Please tell me you're not going to tell her."

A drag on the cigarette.  "Don't make me have to decide."

They regarded each other for a moment, then Cordelia glanced at her silver 
watch.  She grimaced and drained her coffee cup.  "Look, I have to go; Mom's 
expecting me for dinner like twenty minutes ago.  I'll see you tomorrow. . . 
maybe."

She leaned across and air-kissed Oz once, before getting up and heading for 
the door.  "You need a ride anywhere?" she called back.

Oz shook his head.  "See you."

She gave a nod, then left.  Oz sat back in his seat and rubbed his eyes.  So 
much for solving things.  Actually, the conversation with Cordelia had given 
him more to think about than just Xander and Willow.  Her earlier comment 
about Angel had got him wondering: if Angel had seen no one since Buffy, 
what the hell had happened the night before?  Why had Angel chosen to sleep 
with him?  He wasn't complaining, not at all, just. . . curious.  He smiled 
to himself. Life had been so simple until that invite.  Which was another 
mystery.  Too many mysteries for one night, actually.  Well, there was a way 
to solve one of them at least.

Oz got up from his seat, and left the café for the cool air of dusk.

***

Continued in Part 3