Part 1

Willow sat in the outer offices of Wolfram and Hart waiting for her appointment. Okay, technically Angel Investigations but she just couldn’t imagine Angel in the corporate world. Fred had called her last week asking if she could come and help them with Cordelia.

Cordelia had been in a coma since just after Willow’s visit last year to restore Angel’s soul. Nothing had been able to help. Even with all the resources that Wesley knew and with the backing of Wolfram and Hart. They were hoping that Willow’s magic would bring her out of it.

God, what a year that had been. It wasn’t quite the year from hell with Tara’s death but it was pretty close. There had been many casualties in the final fight. Some had been physical and some had been emotional.

Xander was finally coming to terms with all his losses. He had withdrawn into himself and only allowed Willow close to him emotionally. He had thrown himself into building a new Council with Giles, which eventually helped him through his depression. They were stationed in Cleveland.

Buffy, Dawn and some of the others were traveling all over the globe collecting the ones called and bringing them back for training. Since Willow felt them all, she could pinpoint where the new Slayers were located and let the others know where to find them.

Faith, Robin and Kennedy were in charge of training the new recruits. Both Slayers and others that wanted to volunteer in the fight. Some were friends of the girls recently called and others were those that wanted to fight when a loved one had been killed by a demon.

A sad smile flitted across Willow’s face at the thought of Kennedy. They had stayed together for a while but it had become clear that they were drifting apart. There had been too many differences in their lives for the relationship to continue. They were still friends and Willow would always be grateful to Kennedy for showing her that she was worth loving again and that she could love again. She had even set Kennedy up on a blind date that seemed to have been a success.

A flash of color caught her eye and Willow turned to see what it was. A striking brunette in a red leather top and black leather pants made her way purposefully down the hall and out of Willow’s vision.

A voice clearing brought Willow’s head back around.

“Miss Rosenberg?”

“That’s me.”

“Would you follow me please? Winifred will see you now.”

Willow grinned as she followed the older woman down the hallway to the lab where Fred worked. Oh so formal, she’d have to tease Fred about her assistant.

The assistant turned to Willow and indicated that she go through the double doors. Willow smiled her thanks and then pushed open the doors and stood there with her mouth open.

“Yep. That was pretty much my reaction the first time I saw this lab.” Fred said with a smile as she pulled Willow into a hug.

“It’s good to see you, WINIFRED.” Willow’s eyes twinkled with her teasing.

Fred blushed slightly, “I’m trying to break her of that but she insists calling me Winifred. Are you tired from your trip? Would you rather meet later?”

“No, this is good. I’m not tired at all. Unless you want to wait, cause I can wait if you need to.”

“Nope, I’m good. Come on I’ll take you up to where Angel and Wesley are waiting.”

Fred opened the back door and showed Willow to the express elevator that led to the executive conference room. As the elevator steadily climbed Willow began to shiver.

“You okay. Are you cold? We can turn the air up.”

“No, its… its just that I feel oppressive power here. It’s permeating the walls. Did you do a cleansing spell before you took these offices over?”

“Yeah. But Wolfram and Hart still have liaisons here so the cleansing spell only did so much. I didn’t think you would be able to feel it. A witch from a local coven came in and declared it okay.”

Willow smiled wryly. “It probably is but with my walk on the dark side I’m probably more susceptible to it than others. I’ll be okay. It’s just a tingling sensation over my skin.” She didn’t want to worry Fred but it felt more like when she had raised Buffy from the dead and the snake had been under her skin.

The door opened and with a sigh of relief Willow stepped out of the elevator. But the sigh soon turned to a cry as she stumbled. Angel, Wesley and Fred all rushed to her side.

“Willow! Are you all right?” Fred grasped her arm.

“Umm I hate to be all party pooper-y but could we move this meeting somewhere else?”

Angel helped Willow stand, “God, Willow. I’m so sorry. I didn’t even think. This used to be the White Room where the upper management or is that lower management of Wolfram and Hart met. Of course it would affect you.”

Willow just grinned at Angel even through the pain that was coursing through her body. “Angel! I think that’s the most you’ve said in one breath to me. EVER. I think Fred and I must be rubbing off on you.”

Angel ignored her teasing and quickly escorted her out of the room. He sighed in relief when he heard her heart rate lower and her breathing return to normal as soon as they left the White Room. He pressed the elevator button to the floor that housed his executive suite, which was a short ride from the Room. “We’ll go down to my offices.”

A gasp escaped Willow when the doors opened and Wesley placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “You all right?”

“Yeah, I just wasn’t expecting a wall of windows overlooking the city for Angel’s offices.” She turned back to the window watching the sunset, “It’s beautiful.”

Angel came to stand next to Willow, “Yeah it is. I never get tired of watching the sun rise and set.”

Willow nudged a shoulder into Angel, “So… no poofing? How’d you manage that?”

Angel grinned down at Willow, “Courtesy of Lilah. When they offered us this building this was to sweeten the deal. Specially tinted windows, vamp proof.” He turned back around and indicated for Willow to sit in the nearest chair.

“Willow, if you feel you CAN’T help Cordy I don’t want you to feel guilty. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that she might not be coming back. I just want her to be at peace no matter what the outcome.”

“Are you able to get the Phoenix Sphere?”

“I hired someone that’ll get it for us. She won’t be in possession of it for a couple of days. Is that okay?”

“Yeah. That’ll give me time to get other supplies together and to see Cordy.”

“D-do you think you’ll be able to help, Willow?” Fred was afraid to pin all her hopes on Willow but she felt that if Willow couldn’t do it then Cordy would be in the coma forever.

Willow smiled sympathetically at Fred. “I hope so, but I’ll know better once I’ve seen her. Felt the magic that was used if any. It might have been demon induced. From what Angel told me of how she was put in a coma it might not be curable by magic.” Willow watched as Fred valiantly tried to keep her face a mask but Willow could see her disappointment.

She reached over and pulled Fred into a hug. “Hey, if I can’t do it we have five of the greatest researchers EVER. I’m sure Giles, Xander, Wesley, you and I can find something. Don’t give up hope, there’s always hope.”

Angel looked at Willow and teased, “When did Xander get to be a great researcher and how come I wasn’t included in the list?”

Willow winked at him, “Noticed that did you? I don’t remember you doing much research in Sunnydale. You were kinda in Buffyland.”

“Hey! I researched.” Off Willow’s look he continued, “Okay as long as it helped Buffy I researched but I research now.”

Part 2

Willow took a deep breath before opening the hall door that led to Cordelia’s room. Wolfram and Hart had set her up in one of the finest spas that also doubled as a medical facility catering to demons that money could buy.

As soon as Willow arrived outside the facility, she had felt the power radiating from the buildings. She had mentally centered herself and sent a silent prayer to the goddess for support as she made her way through the magickal minefield, reaching out to Cordelia.

Willow could only faintly feel Cordelia, but she wasn’t sure if it was due to the magickal interference of all the demonic activity there or from Cordelia’s supernatural coma.

The first thought that Willow had upon entering Cordelia’s room was that she looked like Sleeping Beauty waiting for her prince to come. Willow felt an irrational urge to giggle at that analogy. Not that she’d EVER picture Cordelia lying around waiting for some prince to come wake her up. Hmm, maybe she’d ask Angel if he tried to kiss her awake.

Feeling for any magickal tendrils that surrounded Cordelia, Willow concentrated on what might be binding her. She closed her eyes and just let her new supernatural senses take over.

There were pearlescent cords wrapping around Cordelia and intertwined through them was a bright fire colored thick tendril. Willow sagged with relief when she saw that one. That meant that the Phoenix Sphere could be used to hopefully bring her soul back.

The fire colored tendril meant that Cordelia’s soul had been removed magickally and was still connected to her body, but residing on a different plane. The Phoenix Sphere would help her determine which plane.

She hadn’t wanted to alarm Angel or the others, but she would have to make the spiritual journey. She would have to travel to the realm where the souls of the lost resided. The Sphere only works for souls that were lost through supernatural means. A person afflicted with a medical coma could not be restored through the Sphere. Willow hadn’t wanted to admit it to herself or Angel, but she had been afraid that Cordelia’s coma might have been medical rather than supernatural.

Willow reached for Cordelia’s hand. “You are going to be so pissed when you realize that you’ve spent months in a five star spa and you weren’t awake to enjoy it. Maybe you can get Angel to splurge on a two week stay when I bring you back. And I will bring you back, Cordy. I think I should be able to find one ex-higher being floating around in the netherworld. You’ll probably be the one running the place.”

~~~

Gwen’s silent figure melded into the shadows along the side of the building and with one final look to make sure the guards hadn’t detected her, she slipped open her lock picking tools and worked on the security box. She quickly peeled her glove off and with her bare hand she placed her fingers on the controls inside. A blue electric arc traveled from her fingertips to the wires inside, which caused the light to flick from red to green and the door opened with a tiny pop. “Suckers.”

She quickly and silently made her way inside the building which housed the Phoenix Sphere that Angel had hired her to get. He had been his usual cryptic self, not disclosing why he wanted it. Not that she cared, it was the thrill of the job and of course the six-figure price tag that Angel was paying. All hail the new W&H Los Angeles Branch, Gwen thought with a smirk as she looked around the corner and waited for the guard to complete his rounds in that corridor.

Gwen listened to the sounds of the retreating footsteps and waited a few beats before continuing on her journey. She silently slipped into the room that her contact told her contained the vault that housed the Sphere.

The spray from the aerosol can highlighted the light beams so that they appeared to Gwen. She returned the can back into her backpack and lowered her bare hand, which caused the light beams to arc up and out of her way. She silently sauntered closer to the vault and a slight smirk graced her features when she noticed the palm reader.

Gotta love those suckers that are comforted by technology, she thought as she placed her bare palm on the reader. Blue sparks danced around her fingertips and over the palm plate before disabling the mechanism, opening the vault.

A bright light was focused on the Sphere and the collector in her admired the workmanship and the color. Angel and her contacts had been vague as to what the Sphere really was. She had pictured in her mind something like a crystal ball so she was unprepared for a large uncut ruby. As she got closer she noticed fine etchings on the ruby that looked like a bird rising from a fire.

The price tag just went up. Plus she’d take some other souvenirs. She had a reputation to protect and she had never left a job without something to add to her own collection. She wasn’t about to start now, Angel as her client or not. Her eyes scanned the room and lit up when they found a Ming vase and a Faberge egg. They were perfect.

After carefully placing all the objects in her backpack, Gwen left the vault and snapped the door shut with a quiet click. She wished she could see the look on the owner’s face when he opened his vault tomorrow.

~~~~~~

Willow paced around Angel’s office as she nervously waited. “What time did you say your friend would get here?”

“Don’t worry, she’ll be here.”

“How can you be so sure? I mean it’s a very valuable object, not even considering the mystical qualities. You said she was a professional thief so what’ll stop her from keeping it and selling it on the black market?”

“Excellent question,” Gwen said from the doorway.

Willow spun around at the stranger’s voice and saw the striking brunette she had noticed during her first visit.

“Did you get it, Gwen?”

“I’m fine, Angel thanks for asking.” Gwen reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out the ruby.

Angel held out his hand but Gwen continued to lean against the doorframe and made no move to hand over the Sphere. “Not so fast, I believe we have a bit of unfinished business.”

“Your fee has been wired to your Swiss account as we agreed, Wes will verify transfer in the morning AFTER I get the sphere.”

“That’s generous of you, Angel but I was thinking that my fee went up coinciding with the ruby’s value. You know I work on commission.”

“I’m not going to sell it so there isn’t a commission.”

“Ah, but I do get a percentage of what it’s worth and even my untrained eye can tell that the ruby is worth more than the percentage I’m getting.”

Willow narrowed her eyes at the woman who was holding Cordelia’s fate in the palm of her hand, literally. “How much more?”

“Oh, I like her. She gets straight to the point with no haggling. Add a few more zeros onto the end of the fee and we have a deal.”

“Would it make any difference to you if I said that we were using it to bring Cordelia back?”

“Actually, no.” Gwen turned to Angel, “Cordelia, isn’t that your love, handsome? The same one you wanted the axis for? What’s with her and these globe things?”

Willow straightened her spine. “Fine, Angel will add a few more zeroes.” After all, the woman hadn’t specified how many more zeroes and there were an infinite amount after the decimal place.

A smile spread across Gwen’s face. “Deal. By the way, I’m Gwen, since Angel is too rude to introduce us.”

“Willow.”

To Be Continued . . .