Disclaimer – I don't own Angel: The Series or any of its characters.

Summary – Set in S-5. AU, Post-"You're Welcome". Happily ever after never came for Angel or Cordelia. Or did it? A chance encounter with a young girl might just change Angel's life... For better or worse, is yet to be seen.

Genre's – Drama, Family, Friendship, Supernatural, Adventure and some Humor.

.oOOo.

A/N – I don't know if this plott has been done before, but I haven't seen it. Please enjoy.

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The Little Things

Chapter 1 – The Fire

It had been a week. A week without Cordelia. It had been hard, for all of them. Angel had at first tried to talk about it. He had tried to take Wesley aside, to talk. They had all tried to cope in different ways, Wesley, Gunn and Fred's ways being that they shut themselves off – even from each other. Spike, if possible, was worse. He had hardly knew Cordelia, what gave him the right to griev? That was what Angel kept asking himself. What right did Spike have to griev a woman he had only met a few times?

Angel had tried to be the glue, like Cordelia had. He had done it for Cordelia. He didn't want to lose anyone else. He had tried, dammit. It hadn't worked. That had always been Cordelia's thing – she had always held them together. He had seen Fred – little, sweet Fred – trying to make things work. They had all tried to cooperate with each other. They really had. It hadn't been enough appairently. That was why Angel found himself out on the street, looking for something – anything – to take his mind off of everything. To take his mind off of Cordelia.

He was walking past an orphanage when he smelled it – smoke.

Quickening his pace, he started running. He knew the fire trucks wouldn't come until someone human smelled it. It wouldn't be long, from the smell of things. He could smell children inside. The smell that attracted his attention the most was so familliar it made his uunbeating heart constrict with pain. Cordelia.

'Impossible!' he thought. 'She died – the doctors confirmed it!'

His noise didn't lie. Moving swiftly, he smashed through a window – the window right next to Cordelia.

"Cordelia!" he called, hoping she would hear him and recognize his voice. He had no idea how she was turned into a child – he had no idea how old, either – but he had to get her out of there.

She didn't move. She just stared at the broken shards of glass, mesmerized.

"Cordelia, you have to move! You have to listen to me! Come here, Cordy! Come here! It's Angel, Cordy! You have to come here! I'll protect you – I'll get you out of here and back to the Hotel, not Wolfram and Hart!"

She still didn't move, her gaze sliding from the broken glass to his face. What he saw there hurt him deeply – fear. Fear of him. She was afraid of him. Afraid of what he had done.

"Please, Cordy. Come here, please." he said, soffening his voice. "I'll protect you, Cordy."

She just stared at him. She opened her mouth to say something – then the smoke alarm went off. Without thinking, Angel reached through the window and lifted the small girl – no older than six, if he could judge correctly – into his arms and disappeared into the night, silent as a shadow.

.oOOo.

"I just found her –" Angel explained to the police officer. "– the orphanage was about to burn down – there was nothing else I could have done – I had her best interest at heart, I swear –"

"Please, Sir, follow me." The officer interrupted. "We have to find her parents – wait, you said you found her in an orphanage, am I correct?"

Angel nodded, still holding the young Cordelia. He had no idea why she couldn't remember her own name – he hoped that it wasn't from the Powers That Be – he swore to himself that he would inflict as much harm as he could if that were the case.

"Please, Sir –" the officer broke in – Angel noticed that the name tag read "Officer David Blackburn" on it – "– You have to put the girl down."

Reluctantly, Angel did so, not taking his eyes off of the girl. He noticed for the first time that she was shaking. Was it because of him? Had he scared her in some way?

'Of course I did', he thought to himself. 'A tall, black clad figure brakes through her window at an orphanage and steals her away from the only place she calls home –'

Did she have a home before this one? Was this girl even Cordelia? He trusted his nose – it had got him out of more situations than he could count – but what if he was wrong. What if this girl wans't Cordelia Chase at all. What if he had kidnapped a stranger?

'I saved her from a burning building,' he thought. 'If she isn't Cordelia, at least I saved her from dying.'

"Ex-Excuse me, S-Sir?" the girl stammered.

"Yes, sweetheart?" Officer Blackburn asked, kneeling to her level.

"Wh – What happened?" the girl asked, her eyes fixing on Angel. "I – I feel like I should know that guy, Mister. I feel like I met him before – somewhere – but I can't remember where..."

"It's alright, sweetheart. We're gonna figure all this out, and I promise we'll tell you. Why don't you get into my car, sweety? We can go for a little ride." Officer Blackburn soothed, reaching out to touch her shoulder reasuringly. He wasn't expecting her to flinch violently away, moving closer to Angel.

Angel immediatly lifted her back into his arms, whispering soothing words into her ear to calm her down.

"I don't want him to touch me, I don't want anybody to touch me, nobody touch me, nobody touch me!" she shrieked, barrying her face into Angel's jacket. "Nobody."

"Nobody?" Angel repeated, trying to understand. "Do you want me to put you down, then?"

She shook her head viggerusly, pressing herself as close as she could to Angel's cool body.

"Don't put me down, don't put me down, Mister. Please, don't put me down." she whispered. "You're – you're safe. I – I can trust you."

Angel felt tears sting his eyes. She thought she could trust him, and she didn't even know him.

"I'll take you somewhere safe," he promised. "I'll take you back to my hotel."

"You can't do that!" Officer Blackburn cut in. "You can't take her back with you – you're not her guardian, are you?"

Angel shook his head. "I'm not. But I will be."

With that, he turned and walked swiftly away, Cordelia safely in his arms.

"What's your name, Sweetheart?" he asked, his voice souft.

"I – I think It's Cordelia. I – I'm not sure, though. It's what – what they called me." Cordelia replied, glancing up at him. "Do – do you think that's my name, mister?"

"Yeah," Angel replied. "I think it's your name."

"What's your name?" Cordelia asked, staring at him now.

"My name's Angel, Cordelia. Just call me Angel." Angel replied.

.oOOo.

The Hyperion Hotel wasn't far – the fact that it was closed was a problem he knew how to fix. He broke a window – careful to shield Cordelia from the broken glass – and lifted them through it.

"Woe," she said, awed. "You live here?"

Angel smiled slightly. "I used to. I'm gonna fix it up – we can both live here, if you want."

"Really, Angel?" Cordelia asked, hope in her voice. "You'll – you'll let me live with you?"

"Of course – Why wouldn't I?" Angel asked, curiously. He wondered just how she had gotten to that orphanage – and he vowed to figure it out.

"Nobody's ever nice to me," Cordelia whispered. "Nobody loves me."

"I love you," Angel said without thinking. "Never doubt that. I love you, and I'll protect you, Cordelia."

Cordelia clung to him, starting to cry. Angel wasn't good with crying women – he wasn't good with crying in general – but he held her close and whispered to her until she calmed down.

"Thank you, Angel," she whispered. "Thank you for loving me."

Angel noticed for the first time that she said his name the same way she used to.