Title: In Plain Sight

Author: Alan Hitchen

Email: darkmere2000@yahoo.co.uk

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: BtVS belongs to Joss Whedon and others

Pairing: Willow/Cordy

'You're Not Alone' by Olive, was playing quietly on the radio in Cordelia's car. She broke away from the kiss.

"They're playing our song," she said to her girlfriend.

"You didn't request it again, did you?" Willow asked with a smile.

Cordelia grinned. "Not this time," she replied.

Willow cupped the brunette's face in her hands and looked deep into her hazel eyes. "You're sure about this?" she asked seriously. "Once you're out you're out. No going back into the box marked 'popular cheerleader'. I'm an unpopular computer geek. I've got nothing to lose, you have."

Cordelia smiled sweetly in response. "I've never been more sure about anything in my entire life. I love you, Will, and I don't care who knows it. So I'll lose a few 'friends' but friends like that I don't need. I need you though," she said, and kissed Willow deeply in confirmation of that fact.

"Okay then, we go public," Willow said after the kiss. "But before then we've got to tell our families and friends... and Oz." She frowned. "I still don't know what to tell him. I hurt him a lot with the Xander thing. What will he do when I tell him this?"

Cordelia winced as she recalled her accident at the warehouse and her cold fury at Xander's betrayal of her with Willow. Why had she been so angry with him? Could it be that even then she had harboured feelings for Willow and was that why this double betrayal had so angered her?

"It'll hurt whatever you tell him," she said at last. "And you'll have to tell him soon. You can't keep him at arm's length forever."

"You're right," agreed Willow. "I'll tell him tomorrow."

...

"So, you see, there's someone else," Willow said quietly, expecting the worst.

"I've been expecting this," Oz replied calmly and without malice.

Willow was taken aback. "You have?"

"I've noticed there's been a distance between us of late, and it's not hard to guess the reason why. It's back on between you and Xander, right?"

"Wrong. It's not me and Xander. It's me and... Cordy."

"Hmmm... interesting choice," Oz responded.

"You don't seem very surprised."

Oz shrugged. "Nothing surprises me much these days. Can we still be friends?" he asked unexpectedly.

"Isn't that supposed to be my line?" Willow countered.

"I like to be different," Oz answered with a slight smile. Then they shook hands and parted as friends.

It wasn't until much later that Willow discovered that Oz had also been seeing someone else, but by then she didn't much care and they remained friends.

...

"Hi, guys," Willow said nervously. Giles, Buffy and Xander turned to greet Willow and Cordelia as they entered the library together. "Cordy and I have something to tell you." She looked to Cordelia for support as her nerve failed her.

Cordelia took her hand and squeezed it before speaking to the others. "You've probably realised there was more to the vamp-Willow business than I let on at the time. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the vamp told me that the real Willow secretly loved me."

She looked again at Willow, smiled, and gave her another squeeze of the hand before continuing. "So, we're a couple now. We plan to come out publicly at the prom, but before that we're telling you. As our friends we hope you will support us."

Giles was the first to speak. "Are you both happy?" he asked.

"Yes, very," they replied in unison.

"Then that's all I need to know," he said, stepping forward to hug them both. "If there's anything you need, don't hesitate to ask."

"Thanks, Giles, it's much appreciated," said Willow, tears welling in her eyes.

"Ditto," said Cordelia.

"What he said," was all Buffy could say, as, overcome by emotion engendered by her own, disastrous, love-life, she threw herself at the two girls as Giles retreated to the safe haven of his office.

Amid the hugs, kisses and tears, no one noticed Xander quietly slipping out of the library, his face frozen into an unreadable mask. He silently entered the toilets and locked himself into a stall where he sat weeping, thinking that he had just lost the two people who meant the most to him.

Although the girls would later reassure him that this was not so, he would remain cool and distant from now on, covering up his hurt feelings with his usual flippancy.

Having told their friends, the tricky business of telling their parents would be next, neither was looking forward to it.

****

Willow emerged white-faced from her home, and ran to the car where Cordelia was waiting. She jumped in beside her, threw back her head, and simply howled in wordless expression of her pain and humiliation. In-between huge sobs she tried to tell a shocked Cordelia what had happened.

"It - seems - my parents - liberal attitudes - don't apply - to their - own child. They said I was dirty - a disgrace to my religion - a pervert - and no daughter of theirs."

Cordelia was incensed. "How dare they! I'm going in there to give them a piece of my mind!"

As she began to get out of the car Willow restrained her. "No, Cordy, don't, you'll only make things worse, and anyway they were rotten parents anyway, who needs them," she said unconvincingly, blinking back her tears. Reluctantly, Cordelia shut the car door and drove off to face her own date with destiny.

Cordelia's parents were initially surprised and a little shocked at the turn of events, but they loved their daughter, accepted her for what she was, and, as Cordelia would not let her go back home, accepted Willow into their home.

Bruce and Lilian Chase soon came to love Willow almost as much as Cordelia and all seemed to be well. Then came the fateful visit from the IRS inspector, and overnight everything that the Chase's had worked for had gone. Even the house had to be sold to cover unpaid taxes. Willow had already been cut off financially, so, instead of planning for college, both girls found they had to look for jobs instead.

It was at this low point that Harmony decided to launch her attack. Sidling up to the couple in the hallway, Harmony greeted the now ex-Queen C with barely disguised contempt, before laying into Willow with a poisonous diatribe that was aimed directly at Cordelia.

"Hardly a lipstick lesbian is she? I'm not sure she knows what a lipstick is, let alone what colour to use. You could at least have chosen a girl with some fashion sense, or indeed some looks. I always thought that she was a fucking ugly little witch, but never in a million years did I think you, of all people, would end up fucking that self same witch. That blonde bitch Buffy, maybe, but not you. What on earth do you see in her? Is it love, or is it a case of beggars can't be choosers?"

Willow blenched from this onslaught. Still sensitive from the reaction of her parents she instinctively hid behind Cordelia, who let rip with a blistering riposte.

"Harmony, you're a disgrace to your own name. A small-minded bigot, a hateful loser, who has nothing to say and no one to love. A pathetic sheep following at the heels of anyone who will tell you what to do, what to say, what to think. In short, you are a complete failure as a human being. You can say what you like about me, but say one more word about Willow and I'll knock you into the midddle of next week!"

Harmony and her coterie beat a hasty retreat from Cordelia's clenched fists, and after that no one dared to badmouth them, in public at least.

They made a big splash at the prom. Cordelia was always a byword for glamour, but on the night it was Willow who was the centre of attention. She was an absolute knockout, as Cordelia intended she should be. All eyes were upon the couple. Even Harmony was heard to grudgingly admit that Willow had scrubbed up well. As they danced the night away in the company of their friends they couldn't have been happier.

However, the triumph at the prom looked like a last hurrah from the Chases as the date of the eviction moved ever closer. Mr Chase found a job in Duluth and moved there with Lilian. Willow and Cordelia moved in with Buffy and Joyce and new tenants moved into the Chase family home.

With their college plans in ruins and facing life in straightened circumstances, the devoted couple did their best to comfort each other while hoping for something to turn up. Then, right out of the blue, something did turn up, in the form of a phone call to Willow from the software division of International Electromatics Incorporated.

Willow put down the phone and turned to Cordelia. "Did you get all that? I've got a job, a good salary, and a house! All our problems are solved. Well, if you ignore Faith, the Mayor, and his ascension. If we survive that we're set for life!"

Cordelia just raised an eyebrow. "It's only the end of the world again, Will. I'm sure Buffy and Giles will handle it on the day, they usually do," she said unconcernedly, then with considerably more enthusiasm added: "This job, does it come with a car?"

Willow threw herself into Cordelia's lap. "That's what I like about you, Cordy. You always have your mind on the bigger picture," she said teasingly. "I guess I can wheedle a car out of them, they seem to think very highly of me. Now, give me a kiss and tell me what a clever girl I am."

As Cordelia eagerly complied with her request it looked like a happy ending was assured. So they survived the ascension and lived happily ever after.

Or did they?