alixtii: Player from <i>Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?</i> playing the game. (Default)
[personal profile] alixtii
Title: Bathing in Jordan
Fandom Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Pairing: Cordelia Chase/Kate Lockley
Timeline/Spoilers: "Not Fade Away"
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Sometimes baptism isn't a one-time deal.

Bathing in Jordan

When she wakes up the bed is empty; indeed, there is no reason other than her own confused memories to believe anyone else had ever been there. Perhaps nobody ever had, maybe it was all some dream. Didn't matter, really, did it? Either way, it all meant the same thing.

She gets out of bed, gets dressed, and calls a cab. Before it arrives, she opens up her bottom drawer, pushes away the socks, and pulls out several instruments she hasn't used in years: handcuffs, a heavy-duty flashlight, a gun.

. . .

She had stood in the center of the mall, in front of the fountain, a look of confusion on her face, as if she wasn't quite sure what she was doing there. Kate wasn't quite sure what Cordelia was doing there, either, but she figured if anyone did know, it should be Cordelia herself. "What are you doing here?" she asked, and she could hear the accusation slip into her voice.

She had left that life.

Cordelia looked at her, blinked. "Do I know you?" she asked, the look on her face being one of genuine confusion. "No, wait--blonde, not Buffy, not Darla, not the new one. You're the other one, the police officer. Kat?"

"Kate."

"Right." Cordelia nodded, took a breath. "Fourth time I've done this, and everytime something goes wrong. Every single time. I mean, compared to being hijacked by a rogue Power, a little memory mismanagement is a walk in the park, but still, the universe really is out to get me, isn't it?"

Kate just looked at the other woman, who seemed to have some clue what she was talking about even if Kate didn't. She coughed, and Cordelia noticed her for the second time. "Oh, right," she said. "Detective Lockley." She paused, looked at Kate more closely. "Or is that Sandwich Artist Lockley?" she asked, reading her shirt. "Talk about professional dress--way to dress feminine."

Kate looked down at her green polo shirt and black slacks. "It pays the bills." Some of them, at least. It's a job where she can escape. It's not like she's trying to attract a man. Or things which aren't men.

Cordelia nodded, then looked around. "When does this place close?" she asks.

"Ten," Kate answered, because that's the right answer, even if she had no idea why Cordelia wanted to know--or for that matter, what was going on at all.

"Meet me here at ten-thirty," Cordelia said, gave Kate a wink, and walked away before Kate could follow, within moments lost in the sea of people making their way through the mall.

. . .

Getting into the mall past closing wasn't really all that difficult when she had to draw upon both her experience in law enforcement and her knowledge of the mall itself gained from working too much overtime. She made her way to the fountain without meeting any security guards and found that, sure enough, Cordelia was waiting for her. She was standing in the fountain itself, her stylish sandals left on the fake marble floor. With her dress. And--everything else.

"Come on in," the naked woman said to her, "the water's fine."

Kate looked at Cordelia, at her naked body, then away, then looked back again. This was why she left L.A., why she hated spending time with Angel (even as she loved spending time with Angel); she hates being overwhelmed, the feeling that she's in over her head. She wanted to leave, to run, to return to a life of lower-class mundanity, but she knew Cordelia came to find her for a reason, whatever it might be. That there were things going on which she didn't understand, but in which she had to play her part, or else it'd all just follow her wherever she went.

She glanced around for the security guard. There's no sign of him yet, but he'd be going to show up eventually. "What do you want, Cordelia?"

"I want you to take off all your clothes and get in the fountain," Cordelia said impatiently. "I thought that was actually pretty clear."

Not having any option, and after casting one last glance for that security guard, Kate pulled her shirt off over her head. "But why?" she asked as she pulled off her pants.

"I want you to take a bath."

. . .

Kate slips into the train station, purchases a ticket for the first train going west. Eventually, she makes it to Los Angeles.

. . .

"It's a motif," Cordelia explained. "Last time it was a shower, remember? Angel came in and held you under the shower to sober you up?"

"He told you about that?"

Cordelia laughed. "Of course not. But who do you think let him in?"

. . .

Los Angeles is just the way she left it, no sign of a battle and certainly no sign of a war, save for the conspicuous absence of both Angel Investigations and Wolfram & Hart. She walks around the block where Wolfram & Hart used to be--it's a construction site promising to be a set of high-rise condos, now--three times before pulling out her cell phone. She types in the country code for Italy, then the number Cordelia gave her: the number of someone who can help her to help, and to find out what happened, someone with the resources to provide Kate with the tools she will need.

"Hello?" she says. "I'd like to speak to Dawn Summers, please."

(no subject)

Date: 2007-08-20 01:02 am (UTC)
wisdomeagle: (Cordelia)
From: [personal profile] wisdomeagle
"It's a motif," Cordelia explained.

FTW.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-08-20 03:05 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] marenfic.livejournal.com
Setting this in a mall was a stroke of genius. Poor Kate- what a sucky life.

Nice job.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-08-20 03:26 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] teh-no.livejournal.com
I liked it. Obviously I came in thirty minutes late to the movie and missed all the exposition, but Cordelia as Obi-Wan guru seems to fit with where her character was going (if a bit more sapphic).

(no subject)

Date: 2007-08-20 12:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tinpanalley.livejournal.com

What an intriguing piece! I liked it!

(no subject)

Date: 2007-08-20 05:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] zgirl714.livejournal.com
I loved this! You really wrote Kate with all her subtle nuances and didn't go for the easy fandom answer. Great job!

(no subject)

Date: 2007-08-20 07:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] alixtii.livejournal.com
I'm not completely sure what the easy fandom answer would be, even, but I'm glad it worked for you.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-08-20 07:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] alixtii.livejournal.com
Those Powers, always being so very meta. Glad you liked it.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-08-20 07:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] alixtii.livejournal.com
Thank you!

(no subject)

Date: 2007-08-20 07:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] alixtii.livejournal.com
You really haven't missed anything if you've seen "You're Welcome," although this does reference another story when she says she's incarnated three times before rather than two.

I'm glad you liked it!

(no subject)

Date: 2007-08-20 08:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] alixtii.livejournal.com
Thank you!

(no subject)

Date: 2007-08-21 03:02 am (UTC)
ext_14447: (Default)
From: [identity profile] aaronlisa.livejournal.com
Interesting story.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-08-21 06:11 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] zgirl714.livejournal.com
Shes usually written like a totally cold bitch without redeeming qualities.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-08-21 08:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] alixtii.livejournal.com
Ah, the misogynistic, completely non-canonical, "why are you getting in the way of my m/m?" (or, more likely, B/A) fandom answer. Luckily I've never read any fics like that; indeed, the only Kate fic I can remember reading was a really good Kate/Riley.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-08-21 08:34 am (UTC)

(no subject)

Date: 2007-08-22 12:02 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] zgirl714.livejournal.com
Good for you. I started reading this fic that was a Cordy/Angel and it started out good until Kate stabbed Cordy because of her love for Angel. Ugh. I clicked out of that quick.

(no subject)

Date: 2008-03-27 08:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dreamincolor.livejournal.com
What an interesting idea! I like the idea of Cordy giving Kate the nudge she needs to go back to helping.

Very nice.

(no subject)

Date: 2008-03-27 08:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] alixtii.livejournal.com
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it.

cKRcilAIBJsyMfXEqb

Date: 2012-10-03 10:30 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
The big thing that people are upset about is that while you can opt-out of cross-posting your own enretis and comments to your own facebook or twitter account, you currently can NOT opt-out of readers cross-posting their own comments on your journal, including friends-locked posts.Although LJ claims to be working on the problem and coming up with a solution, this whole thing seems such a profound level of poor judgement that I don't feel confident that they won't do something equally boneheaded in the future and compromise my locked posts while I'm not looking.Also, if they were so very concerned about the issue, they would have disabled the feature until they come up with a fix for it.So yeah. I've basically run the script to make all of my posts private until I migrate elsewhere.

HZelOoaKvp

Date: 2012-10-06 05:29 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
You can get what they call a secured card, which is alsomt like a debit card and bank account as you have to put money in the credit account before you can use the card. You do this for a while then the credit company may (usually does) give you a small line of credit, something like $250, pay that on time for a while they will increase it and so on. Honesty I'd get a bank account then try to get a card through them. Are you a student? If so, many banks offer students cards which are a bit easier to get. Good luck.

October 2023

S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
15 161718192021
22232425262728
293031    

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags