Author's Note: It has been many, many years since I've posted a story on FanFiction, or even, have written anything at all. But without further delay, please read and enjoy!

Like I said in the summary, this is a one shot and kind of a preview. If you end up liking it, a story with chapters and all will be created with a plotline and whatnot, please enjoy and take a look! By the way... it took me three days to write this and less than an hour to edit, and I do enjoy constructive criticism, just be a little light. Keep in mind, this is my first piece of work since 2009.

Setting: Season Two, prior to Fred's appearance, so therefore, none of the Connor and so on had taken place yet. Right after Darla's disappearance and right before Fred's appearance.

Claire (C) NikiPowerStyle
Angel and its properties (C) Joss Whedon

The Rediscovered

It was an extremely dark night in the city of Los Angeles… there was a scent of dead rats, sewer, and deathly smokes in the air among other things… while the world remained unaware what was about to transpire in the depths of the city, specifically at Wolfram & Hart.

There were quite a few people in the basement of Wolfram & Hart, where a lot of beings are locked away to themselves or things to be forgotten. But however, there was one particular being locked within a cage surrounded by the employees of the company.

"You thought that you could get a way from this?" said a voice of malice, one of whom was a lawyer of Wolfram & Hart; he had darkness in his eyes, so much evil for a human being to have in their heart. He appeared to be dressed in a well tailored suit, speaking to a man – no, not a man – a creature, a fighter, a warrior of the darkness, better known as The Dark Avenger, or that was what Cordelia Chase has called him for all this time.

His brown eyes stared - a piercing stare - into the eyes of the lawyer, remaining silent as the lawyer kept speaking, "You thought that you could escape from Wolfram & Hart?" he chuckled with his hands in his pockets, walking closer to the cage that held the avenger of the night, "I have to tell you, I'm impressed that you held out this long, in attempt to keep her life intact." He looked toward the young female that was being held hostage with her hands being held behind her back by, what appeared to be, security.

She appeared to have been rundown, due to having fought her hardest before being taken away to this area. She had beautiful elbow length hair that was colored a honey brown color, and her eyes were beautiful emerald with golden rimming around her pupils, some dirt on her cheeks with a horizontal gash above her eye. Dressed in a blue pair of jeans that was gashed on the lower part of the legs, black boots on her feet with white spaghetti strapped shirt and a blue jean jacket that was slightly torn at the shoulders on each side, seeming to have put up a very good fight on the way here…

"Angel," came the voice of the young lawyer, whose eyes were nearly squinted due to the big smirk that he had across his face, walking over to the female, "You see, we've had this in plan all along," he grabbed the chin of the young female whose eyes kept in contact with his, refusing to show fear.

"Lindsey," Angel's voice piped up in a careful tone, "Don't you hurt her." He was being cautious, somewhat overly cautious maybe.

Lindsey's smile grew even more before letting go of the young female's chin, "Why?" he turned around, staring at Angel whose eyes kept a narrowed edge about them, "You afraid that I will kill her? Oh no, Angel, you will be doing that for me." He chuckled, edging cautiously toward Angel's cage.

"And why would I do that?" he asked, staring at Lindsey whom leaned forward toward the cage, "Because, or you shall die." He replied, before leaning back and taking a look at his watch, walking away, "Daylight is about to happen in about ten minutes."

Angel looked toward the side of him, seeing the barred little opening in the wall above his head, seeing dawn was approaching, before realizing that a choice must be made.

"You see, Angel, we – Wolfram & Hart – know the difference between what we can do and what we must do." Lindsey stated, before looking toward the young female, "You see…" he pointed at her, looking toward Angel once again, "We brought her back from the dead - just like we did with Darla – hired her to gather information and kill you, also… well, to kill her in the end."

Angel's eyes stared upon the young female, "Claire… is this true?" his eyes were still piercing into everyone he laid eyes on, including her, "Well!?" he shouted, growing restless as he grabbed the bars as it made a sharp clang.

Claire's eyes looked upon Angel, her hard exterior finally melted away as her eyes could no longer bare his gaze, "Yes, it is true." She said in a sign of defeat, as the security let her go and pushed her away toward Angel while her eyes on the floor.

Lindsey stood in front Claire, with his hands behind his back, "You see, Angel… she never needed saving, or even you for that matter." He grinned, "She was simply… a tool." Her eyes remained lowered.

Angel's eyes fell to the ground, couldn't believe how he felt for such a trick, let alone… a Wolfram & Hart trick.

Suddenly, he heard a powerful backhand slap to the face and his eyes shot up, seeing that Lindsey had slapped Claire across the face, "But, she decided to betray us!" he growled in disappointment, before looking toward Angel, "She wanted to protect you and your low life friends!" he turned his body around to fully face him.

Claire's head was turned from the slap, before looking back toward Angel whose eyes grew confused and angry since Lindsey had a laid a hand on her, "So now, here comes the big finale… you or her," he grinned, looking at his watch seeing how it ticked down to five minutes, "Because, either way… one of you dies and all is well."

Angel let go of the bars, and stood there in his pride, "Go to hell." He had chosen to save Claire's life, in spite of his own. Even after all she has done… she wanted a way out, and he was going to give it to her, "I am not killing her, Lindsey." He stated, appearing firm in his decision.

Claire's eyes widen in surprise, looking back at Angel who stared into her eyes, "Angel…" her voice croaked, as the sunlight slowly seeped onto the pavement of Angel's cell before his arm sizzled a bit, causing him to quickly moved to the other side of the cell to keep out of the sun's rays for as long as he could.

Lindsey smirked, "Well, too bad. I guess, the Dark Avenger is finally being… shall we say, fried?" he buttoned his suit jacket up, "Have a nice life, Angel, or should I say… afterlife." Angel looked over to Claire who began to shake her head franticly.

Claire shouted, "No, Lindsey!" she sprang forward, grasping his left arm with her hands, "Allow me to die in his place!" she pleaded, but no way was she about to let Angel die. Her family may have suffered at the hands of a vampire, but Angel is not the one to blame, and she knew that now. Having blamed all vampires for the death of her family, and she has come to realize that he is not the one to blame.

Lindsey smirked, "A life for a life? How noble of you, Claire. But it's already too late.." he looked at his watch on his other arm, seeing that it had only two minutes left until the sunlight will fill the cage.

"Lindsey, I know that I've been a disappointment to you, but let me do what I was meant to do… have Angel lose," she said in her soft voice, tears fleeing from her eyes, causing to form trail of tears down her cheeks.

Lindsey stared at her reaction with his cold stare that seemed to waver a bit, before looking over to Lilah Morgan, his co-president who nodded in approval. He shouted, "Get him out," he kept a lock onto Lilah while one of the guards quickly opened the cage, grasping Angel's arm as he yanked him out of the cage before the sunlight could reach his body, and tossed him to the side which caused Angel to stumble slightly but kept his balance, turning toward Lindsey and the rest, before his eyes fell onto Claire whom returned his gaze, slowly releasing Lindsey's arm.

"You didn't have to do that, Claire." Angel's voice was serious, but now cautious and wonders, not knowing what Lindsey would do to her.

Claire's eyes were filled with tears, "Yes, I did… You saved me once, and now it's my favor to return," she spoke with such dismay, knowing that her time is now up but how will it end? Time will soon tell.

Lindsey laughed as his shoulders shook from the sight, "What a display of affection, such loyalty… how touching," he had walked away toward one of the guards, pausing there for a brief moment before slowly turning around to face Angel and Claire who were standing a few feet apart.

"Happy Reunion,"

Before Angel and Claire could grasp what was stated by Lindsey – a slice was heard cutting through the air into a sudden halt.

Claire let out a sharp gasp, before slowly looking downward, seeing the tip of a blade sticking out from her stomach, "You think you can escape a deal?" Lindsey spoke softly in her ear before yanking his sword out of her stomach which she began to stumble forward, but in turn, Angel sprung forward and caught her by her shoulders as her knees buckled underneath and he quickly allowed her body to turn around in his arms, allowing his hand to rest behind her head, as his other rested on her now fresh opened wound.

"Claire… Claire! Stay with me," he demanded, as her eyes fluttered up from her wound to his eyes, "An..Ang...el..." she choked out, her heartbeat was frantic due to her state of shock.

Lindsey looked at the family that was in front of him as a huge smile formed on his face, "Angel, this is your sister. Claire, this is your brother. Did I forget to mention that?" he smirked, spinning the hilt of the sword in his hand before pointing it down at the ground, allowing the tip to rest as Claire's fresh blood trailed down from the hilt to the tip, causing a little pool of blood to form on the pavement.

Angel's eyes glared up at Lindsey, "Enough. Stop the lies, Lindsey." He tightened his jaw.

Lindsey let out a laugh, looking toward the ceiling before his eyes adverted toward Angel, "Ha! You think I'm lying? Maybe you should drink her blood and find out. I mean, after all, isn't that how you learn of someone's memories?" he gestured his hand out toward them.

Angel was unable to speak, turning his gaze from its interlock with Lindsey toward Claire who was losing minutes of her life right before him, "My family died long ago, Lindsey," he gritted his teeth, remembering their faces as they died… because of him.

Claire's face was slowly becoming a pale porcelain color, "An-Ang...el.." she coughed up some blood, as a trickle of blood trailed down her cheek, as her eyes began to glaze over.

He placed her gently on the cool pavement, shrugging off his coat, placing it over the stomach applying pressure to her wound, "Don't die, you hear me? You have to fight this, you hear me!? You fight!" he ordered, looking down at her fragile form.

Her eyes locked onto his, while her breath was coming in erratically, "Rem…ber… when I …" she wheezed, "said…" she closed her eyes tight, trying to focus on getting her words out, "I don't care… about liv-ving o-or.. d-d-..ying…" she opened her eyes, "I lied…" she gripped his hand that rested on her stomach with his coat underneath it.

For the first time, she had admitted to Angel that she was afraid of death – an actual death, a death that she could not escape from, no matter how hard she tried. She'd been telling Angel all this time that she didn't care if she lived or died, but now, he realized that she only stated those things to run away from the fear that way she won't be afraid when the time came, but now, that she realizes that it is here… she admitted her fear, the only true fear that she had all along:

Death

Angel realized that he had to make a choice, either to let her die or let her be reborn, also to find out whether or not if Lindsey was telling the truth about their heritage, because something inside of him is wanting to know… if she was really his sister, why couldn't he remember that fact? Why couldn't he remember any of it? But what was bothering him the most… he couldn't bring himself to allow her to die.

"Tsk Tsk… the choices," Lindsey chuckled, "Better choose fast, Angel… the clock is ticking," he looked toward Lilah Morgan who returned his smirk, as she slowly left the room with the remaining guards, believing that Angel would choose not to turn Claire into a vicious vampire, as it were, considering the risks and the simple fact that he wouldn't even turn Darla when offered the chance.

Lindsey took a handkerchief from his chest pocket, flicked it open before lifting up his sword and began to drag the wipe from the hilt to the tip, cleaning it of Claire's blood with his back toward the duo, "You know, Angel… it's kind of fitting how this all plays out. I mean, you try to destroy the Senior Partners but now," he turned around, facing them, "The Senior Partners are destroying you… by destroying something precious of yours that you never knew that you had, well… kind of did, before the memories were stripped of you which you won't receive until… well, I'm sure that you can guess the rest." he grinned, pacing back and forth.

Claire's eyes had closed while Lindsey was speaking, and she felt the whole world began to slip away as every voice in the room began to become a distance memory, before slowly letting out a whisper, "Save me…" she clenched Angel's hand one last time, as his mind wandered to an incident that happened between them during a battle that they endured earlier that night.

The vampires and demons a like, surrounded Angel and Claire whose backs were up against each other in back alley, a barely lit alley with the moon shining upon their battlefield. They had heard screaming from women in the alley, but it turned out to be a trap for the two of them so that the group that surrounded them could kill them to rid them of the vampire with a soul and the new slayer that had come into town.

"How do you want to do this?" Angel had asked with his back pressed against hers, as her eyes stared at the demonic group before them, "I take half," she pulled out her sais that were attached to each side of her upper legs, holding them up as her eyes narrowed.

Angel's face vamped, "As you wish!" as he lurched forward, while Claire spun around slashing a demon's face in half, throwing up her other sai in the air while reaching inside her jacket to pull out a stake to stab a vampire in the chest as it turned to dust as it came up from behind her.

Angel had grabbed a demon by the throat, crushing its wind pipe before tossing it to the side like discarded trash, while a vampire was about to attack him from behind and it turned to dust due to Claire having thrown her stake into its back, while at the same time, she caught her sai from the air and crouched in bow, as the demon lurched forward and tripped, allowing its self to fall directly onto her sai. Then she had flipped it over her head, allowing it to land right in front as it died almost instantly...

As the battle winded down, Angel had killed the last demon by twisting its neck and heard the cracking as it dropped dead in front of him.

Claire had walked over to him, before kicking a dead corpse and stood beside him, "And that's the best they had?" she hmphed in disapproval, returned her sais to their sheaths that were strapped to her legs.

"I guess so, unless…" his voice trailed off, before noticing a demon rising up from behind Claire, and used his agility to switch places with her in an instant, as the demon lurched at him and Angel grabbed it by the neck, "Nice try," he tore its head off, allowing its body to drop and held the head up before tossing it to the side, turning around to face Claire who was looking into his eyes, "I don't really care if I live or die, you know,"

"Well, while you are around me, you will stay alive," He stated, while she remained captivated by his vampire look, "What?" he asked, oblivious at the moment.

"Nothing…" Claire stated, before placing her hands in her jacket pockets, looking toward the corpses, "Just…" she began.

She walked toward a dead corpse, crouching down, "If I ever were to die… I would want to die on my own terms, not the terms of others." She stated in a firm tone, as her honey brown hair fell from behind her ear, covering the side of her face.

"We all make our own path in the world," Angel stated, slowly approaching Claire as she stood up straight, "You have the right to choose, Always."

"Angel…" her voice cut through the air like a sword, "If I were…" she paused, seeming like the question was difficult to even bring up, "ask you to save me, would you?" she asked in a gentle voice, as Angel's face appeared to be surprised as to why she would ask a question, considering that he just saved her life.

Her head raised, as her eyes met his, with his face now normal, "Would you?" she pressed.

"You know I would." Angel answered.

Claire's eyes looked into his, "Thank you." She said in gratitude with a faint smile.

Angel's eyes glazed over, remembering the promise to Claire and never knew what it meant up until now. He could never sire a living human being, especially after his soul was restored but however, now… her body was slowly becoming lifeless.

He vamped, "I will," he finally answered, allowing his fangs to show, and leaned forward bringing her neck up to his mouth, "I will save you," he whispered, then buried his fangs into her skin, allowing her warm human yet wet silky blood to flow into his mouth.

His eyes flung open as the flashes began to show in his mind.

He saw his father, his mother, and his two sisters on their farmland, enjoying their life in Ireland on the sunny fields. However, one particular memory stuck out where Claire and he – Liam - were running around the bushes like children with laughter.

"Catch me if you can, big brother!" she shouted, holding the hem of her dress while running with it with Liam following right behind, "I will catch you, sister!" they continued to laugh while running through the fields of their beloved homeland.

"Would you save me if I ever needed you to?"

"Of course I would!"

Soon their voices in his head began to fade, while Angel came to realize that Claire's heartbeat was coming to a halt. That's when he ripped his fangs out of her neck which was never an easy task for a vampire to do because of the blood thirst that they crave due to the frenzy that begins when the blood of a human reaches their lips.

Suddenly, he brought his wrist to his mouth while looking upon her fragile like state and without a moment's hesitation, cut his wrist with his teeth and shoved it to her mouth.

Claire's body was very weak from the blood loss, but when Angel's wrist reached her lips… she began to feel his blood drip onto her lips. Not before long, she grasped it with her mouth as she slowly began to drink with her eyes snapping open, seeing memories of their past life in Ireland, or should we say… hers.

The moonlight had stretched over the lands of Ireland, where Claire was standing at the top of the hill, looking over the village as it was burning to the ground with villagers screaming.

Her family was butchered by a vampire named, Angelus, formerly known as Liam, her brother who she adored and loved, just like their beloved sister, Kathy once did. And now, she overlooked the damage that was left behind by him and his beloved vampire mistress.

"You lied, Liam… you would never be there." She had her hand over the bite mark on her neck, which was left by Liam – No, Angelus, whom had believed that he had drank every last drop but he had woken up the slayer in her by leaving her for dead. Her rapid healing ability had healed her to a certain degree, but just enough for her to make it out alive. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for her family… their family.

Soon Claire's eyes came to a close with the images fading to black; while Angel took his wrist from her mouth allowing her to lie on the pavement as the transition slowly began to overtake her body.

With Angel's face remaining vamped, and rose himself from the ground, looking up at Lindsey, "What is the catch, Lindsey?" he bared his bloody fangs at him.

"I guess… you shall see, now won't you?" Lindsey chuckled, "Enjoy your family reunion, while it lasts," he backed up into the darkness, leaving Angel alone with Claire, and his questions unanswered.

He looked down toward Claire, before crouching down on one knee and leaned forward, picking her up into his arms, "I won't let you go, not this time." He promised, before rising up to his feet and pressed forward while the Wolfram & Hart allowed him safe passage through.