Since my name is not Joss Whedon, I don't own 'Angel' or any of the characters associated with the show. The challenge (details below) belongs to me.

The Baby Boom Challenge.

Inspired by the movie of the same name. Lilah Morgan's life is going great until her cousin dies, leaving Lilah with an unwanted inheritance - her baby daughter. Now, Lilah must juggle her very demanding career at Wolfram and Hart with taking care of a mischievous baby.

Requirements.

- The story should take place during Season Three or Four of 'Angel'.
- The baby should be a girl, aged between ten and fifteen months, ie. old enough to crawl and make trouble, but small enough to have to be carried around and wear diapers.
- Lilah must bring the baby to work, preferably to a very important meeting.
- Lilah changes the baby's diaper - without actually knowing how.
- Lilah does NOT abandon the baby on the doorstep to the Hyperion, or sacrifice her to the Senior Partners. She's stuck with the baby. Whether she becomes Mother of the Year, or turns the kid into a mini-her or something between the two extremes is up to you.

Bonus.

- The baby calling Lilah 'mama' at some stage, and Lilah's reaction.
- The baby biting Gavin.
- Lilah hiring a nanny, preferably going through a string of them, either because she's not happy, or the baby is too much of a handful.
- The baby winning over a powerful, important demon client by being adorable.
- Lilah getting into a 'soccer mom' conversation with the mothers of other babies.

Note: Lilah may be involved with Wesley, or another person, during the story, but she should be the baby's principal carer.

Author's Note I: I probably shouldn't be starting another story – I've got another four still in progress – but I couldn't resist the temptation of writing/torturing Lilah.

Author's Note II: This story takes place during the late third season of 'Angel', except that Sahjahn has been removed completely from the storyline.


Chapter 1.

Most people hate Mondays with a fiery passion.

Lilah Morgan loved them.

To her, Monday mornings meant having the advantage of two days of rest and the sharper mind that resulted from forty eight hours of downtime, at her disposal, which gave her an edge during the negotiations, at which she excelled.

Despite her lofty position as Vice President of Special Projects at Wolfram and Hart, and the huge salary and ungodly benefits package that came with the job, Lilah had no intention of settling for second best.

She already had her eye on her direct superior, Linwood Murrow's job.

She was an optimist.

Wolfram and Hart employees did not usually enjoy long life expectancies – her former boss, Holland Manners, had been eaten for Heaven's sake!

With any luck, Linwood would meet a similarly nasty end – preferably sooner rather than later – leaving her in possession of both his job and his office, the décor of which she had always liked.

In the meantime, she had a challenging career, a fabulous lifestyle and all the money she could want, plus conflicts with Angel, the local do-gooder, thrown in to make life interesting.

Her life was close to perfect.

Nothing could possibly go wrong.


Monday morning, eleven o'clock.

"Uh, Ms Morgan?"

Her latest assistant approached her nervously, eyeing Lilah warily, as though she feared that her employer might bite.

Honestly! You would have sworn that Lilah had had her last assistant brutally tortured and murdered for forgetting to add the milk to her coffee.

Oh wait . . .

"What?" Lilah glared at the young woman, who looked as though she would have given anything to be elsewhere, taking a perverse pleasure in her obvious fear. She gestured towards the papers on her desk. "I'm busy."

"Yes, Ms Morgan. Sorry, Ms Morgan." Her poor lackey's babbling was enough to make Lilah pity her.

Well, almost.

"What do you want?"

The young woman held out an envelope in a trembling hand. "This was delivered for you."

Lilah nodded curtly, snatching the envelope from the other woman's hand.

Her assistant stood frozen in place, not daring to move.

"Well?" Lilah raised an eyebrow. "What are you waiting for?"

"Ms Morgan?"

"Get lost."

"Yes, Ms Morgan." Grateful to escape with life and limb, her assistant, whose name she had not bothered to learn, fled.

Humming softly, Lilah slit the envelope with an ornate letter opener and withdrew the single sheet of paper.

The paper was headed with the logo of a law firm she had never heard of.

"Dear Ms Morgan . . . death of your cousin . . . deepest sympathies . . .yada, yada, yada . . ." Lilah's eyes sparkled as she came upon one of her favourite words in the English language. "Inheritance."

Monday's rocked!


Three and a half hours later.

/Come on, come on! / Lilah tapped her foot impatiently as she waited in the lobby of the airport, where her cousin's lawyer had arranged to meet with her to go through the necessary paperwork.

Unfortunately, the plane had been delayed by adverse weather conditions and, unless they showed up within the next couple of minutes, she was going to be late for her three o'clock with the Dhurlan demons, a very easily offended species with an insatiable craving for violence.

Lilah did not want to get on their bad side.

Her expression became thoughtful as she reflected on her late cousin, with whom she had had little to no contact over the past two decades.

Until they were about seven Lynn Morgan had been Lilah's best friend, staunchest ally and closest confidante.

Their physical similarity had been as striking as the dissimilarity in their characters.

Lynn had been cheerful, bubbly, happy-go-lucky and generous to a fault, a complete contrast to her ambitious, cynical cousin who had known, even at the tender age of seven, that if she didn't look out for her own interests, nobody else was going to.

She had never struck Lilah as being the successful type but her cousin had obviously proven her wrong.

"Ms Morgan?" A tubby, balding man approached her hesitantly.

"Yes." Lilah was so relieved that she almost smiled at him.

"You're so like your cousin." The man smiled. "I am Geoffrey Chilton. I was the executor of her estate. Now, I'll need you to sign some papers." He rummaged through his briefcase for a moment before fishing out a slim document and handing it to her, together with a fountain pen. "If you'd like some time to read . . ."

"Just give it to me." Knowing that she was already cutting it close for her meeting, Lilah took the document and signed her name with a flourish. "There."

"Thank you." Signing his own name on the 'Witness' line, Mr Chilton looked around the lobby, scanning the faces. "My partner and I were separated in the crowd. He should be around here somewh . . .Thomas!" he waved his had. "Over here."

Lilah gaped in shock and horror as the young man addressed as 'Thomas' deposited a baby in her arms, setting a bag down on the ground at her feet.

The baby took one look at her astonished face and started to cry.

"There, there, Courtney." The middle-aged lawyer smiled at the baby. "There's no need to cry. Your Auntie Lilah is going to take good care of you. Now, if you have no questions, Ms Morgan, we really must get going."

The two men left without waiting for a reply.

Too shocked to speak, Lilah stood motionless, staring at the wailing infant in her arms.

/Auntie Lilah? Well, this definitely sucks! /

TBC.

What do you think? Should I continue? Please let me know what you think and if there's anything that you'd like to see.