Big Moments

By Nick_The_Freak

Disclaimers: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel belongs to J.Whedon and ME along with all the great characters. These are used for fun and entertainment.

Spoilers: *Gone* for BtVS and *Birthday* for A:ts

Summary: The Nyazian Prophecies have foretold another apocalypse and everyone is needed. What does fate have in store for all of them?

Rating: PG13

Distribution: Please do not take without my permission. (like that would happen anyway!) Just ask nicely :P

Feedback: What do you think you stupid git! :P swordzmasterz@hotmail.com

Author's notes: It's a bit A:ts in the beginning, but don't worry, I am only setting the stage. After all, I am a B/S shipper.

Dedication: Well I dedicate this to Brown Palace. She has the utmost courage to go through hell to help me(should see my text before she beta read them @_@). This would not exist without her help.

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Bottom line is, even if you see'em coming, your not ready for the big moments. No one asks for their life to change, not really. But it does. So what are we, helpless? Puppets? No. The big moments are gonna come. You can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that counts. That's when you find out who you are. You'll see what I mean...

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Los Angeles, Present time

"If only they hadn't taken the Nyazian scroll containing the prophecies surrounding the birth of Connor and yes, of course, another possible apocalypse, it would make research a lot easier," Wesley said, seated at his desk covered with old books.

Cordelia only shrugged, then turned her attention back to the little guy resting in her protective arms.

"It's not like we have been bothered by a whole lot of crazy cults lately Wes. Maybe you should give it a rest," she said smiling down at Connor who was slowly closing his eyes and drifting toward another nap

"That is exactly why I am nervous, everything has been too calm around here lately, well as calm as it can ever get," he added getting up to stand behind Cordelia and look down at the precious baby cradled in her arms.

"I want to make sure nothing bad happens to him, you know," whispered Wesley, making sure not to wake Connor.

"Yeah I know, maybe we should ...." she trailed off closing her eyes, knowing the vision would hit soon, but relieved she was now strong enough to withstand one without dropping little Connor.

Going back to his desk, Wesley looked up when Cordelia stopped in midsentence.

"Cordy?"

"Shut up, Wes. I am having a vision. Ok. Big bad as usual and ... *euh* ... smelly. Three of them, green and scaly. They are attacking a school full of CHILDREN!" she yelled out, waking Connor who began to cry.

Angel came running down the stairs when he heard Cordelia yell and Connor cry. Wesley looked at the worried vampire. "Vision... bad," he said.

"How bad?" asked Gunn descending the stairs with Fred on his heels.

Cordelia finally looked up at them. Angel could see the distress on her face.

"What is it Cordy?" he asked gently stroking her back with his left hand, and motioning Gunn and Wesley toward the weapon cabinet with his other hand.

"Thomas J.Coles College, three green scaly demons attacking a party of teenagers. Room 509, but you have to go there quick. It's bound to happen very soon," she said closing her eyes. She could still feel the fear in those poor kids.

"Ok, Wesley and Gunn with me," Angel said as he tossed his keys to Gunn.

"Meet me in the back. Fred you stay here with Cordy and Connor." Grabbing a sword, he made his way toward the back entrance where the shade would let him enter the car without risk of being exposed to the sun, which had another hour before setting.

Cordelia walked toward the sofa and sat down. Quietly she began singing Connor's favorite lullaby hoping to calm the frightened child. Fred joined her and shyly started to sing along. Minutes later, the baby boy started to doze off again when they heard the front door open. Fred turned around to greet the visitors.

"Welcome to Angel Investigation, we help..." but stopped and gasped when she saw the man before her holding a loaded crossbow. He was a middle aged man with dark brown hair and a serious face. The dark brown goatee did nothing to soften his feature. Clad in a long brownish duster, he turned and pointed his loaded weapon toward the two women.

"Where is he?" he growled with a rich British accent in a calm and icy voice.

"Who?" replied Cordelia rising up from the sofa to face the intruder. Before he could reply the door opened again and a women entered, staying behind the man, making it difficult for Cordelia to see her.

"Angelus," the foreboding British man answered in an even colder tone, looking at the baby still held protectively in Cordelia's arms.

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1 hour earlier...

"Now is the time to make your move Holtz. We've waited long enough," Sahjhan said as he paced across the room behind the seated vampire hunter.

Sahjhan was anxious to move forward. He just had a very interesting conversation with another timeless demon, not really a friend, but someone who had a lot of interest in the events to come, those foretold in the Nyazian scroll. He knew he was now on a tight schedule and was eager for the vengeful Daniel Holtz to make his move.

"I will make my move when the time is right, demon. Not a minute before," replied Daniel with his usual emotionless tone of voice.

"When will that be?" shouted the exasperated demon.

Before Holtz could reply the door to the poorly lit underground room opened and Justine walked in. The young woman stopped before Holtz, casting a glance toward Sahjhan. Holtz rose from the chair putting his duster on, he grabbed the crossbow that was lying on a nearby desk, and headed toward the door with Justine on his heels.

"We move now," he answered, opening the door and leaving the demon behind.

Heading toward the Hyperion Hotel, the two traveled in silence, walking the streets of the busy city, that they were no longer a part of. They had long ago given up on fitting into society when they gave up everything to embrace the rage inside them. They both suffered terrible loss at the hands of creatures of the night.

Justine broke the silence half way toward the Hotel.

"Do you really trust this demon guy?" she blurted out.

"No. I don't, but he gave me this opportunity," growled Daniel with a tone that suggested he would prefer walking in silence.

"I get that, so what is the plan. We go in and dust everything in sight?" Justine was now taking a cigarette out of her pack and lighting it.

"No, he works with humans. We need to send him a message." Holtz stopped, looking around to orient himself, still a bit lost in this big city.

"You never really told me what was the deal with you and this vampire guy," Jusitne probed stopping beside him, throwing her half smoked cigarette on the street.

Holtz finally found his bearings again and continued on his way toward the Hyperion Hotel, knowing they were but a few blocks away. He began to replay in his head the meeting he had earlier. Sahjhan, he noticed, had been more pressing then usual. The demon must really had something on his mind, he thought. He continued on, oblivious to the chatting Justine beside him. He rounded the corner and stopped, staring ahead at his destination.

"Aren't we supposed to go in if we want to dust your undead?" questioned the restless red head.

Holtz took the loaded weapon out and made his way across the street toward the hotel. He was so focused on his target, he never saw the black convertible speeding away from the hotel. He stopped before the doors making sure his weapons were ready: the crossbow loaded, the three vials of holy water in the right pocket, the long knife inside his left sleeve and the stake in his left pocket. Opening both doors he made his way inside. Immediately he saw the two women at the base of the stairs.

Ignoring the banter of the thin brunette.

"Where is he?" he barked with a calm and icy voice.

"Who?" replied Cordelia as she rose from the couch to face the man. Suddenly the door opened again and a women entered. Staying behind the man, making it hard for Cordelia to see her.

"Angelus," he replied with and even colder tone. Cordelia saw him eyeing Connor in her arms.

Cordelia looked around. Come on , need to think fast... two of them, and two of us.. shit no Fred isn't strong enough...' Gently handing Connor to Fred, she made her way past her.

"Run Fred!" she shouted heading toward the opened weapon cabinet, quickly picking a short but deadly looking ax.

Armed and ready to fight, she noticed the read head quickly descending the stairs to cut off Fred speedy exit toward the basement. She hoped her sessions of training with Angel would pay off.

"We don't wish to fight you, we are only here for him," said Holtz, walking toward Cordelia, still pointing the crossbow at her.

"British accent, no taste in clothes. You must be that Holtz guy," quipped Cordelia poised and ready to fight.

But she was distracted by the small shriek Fred made when Justine grabbed her by the shoulders and sent her sprawling on the floor violently.

Fred's instinct told her to protect the fragile baby in her arms and she did, leaving her completely defenseless. Connor's face was the last thing she saw before she felt a sharp pain at the back of her skull and everything went black.

"Fred!" Cordelia screamed with fright. Ignoring Holtz she ran toward Fred and Connor quickly. In the background she heard a sharp sound and before her brain could register what it was, she fell face first to the floor. She looked down and saw a bolt now stuck in her right thigh. Ignoring the pain she crawled around the sofa to see Fred down on the ground, still clutching the baby in her arms. Horrified she saw a small pool of blood oozing slowly from Fred's head.

"Why are you doing this?" she pleaded turning toward Holtz who was standing a few feet away from her.

"You are trying to have vengeance on him, but he has changed. He has been atoned for his crimes for nearly a century now." Dropping the ax to the floor, she slowly rose to stand in front of him, putting all her weight on her uninjured leg.

Ignoring her reasoning, "You know what he is and yet you still help him. A demon will always remain a demon girl," he said turning his back on her and walking away.

The next thing Cordelia felt was Justine's right fist connecting with her jaw and sending her crashing to the floor. The world spiraled before her eyes, and she slowly started to drift away. She heard Connor cry and tried to remain conscious, but the heavy blow the red headed landed on her and the blood loss from the bolt sent her into the blackness of unconsciousness, with the bitter feeling of having failed Connor and Angel.

Justine lifted her head to watch Holtz, she had to respect the brunette she just downed, the girl had a lot of guts.

"What do we do now?" she questioned looking around and setting her eyes on the weapon cabinet, eyeing a particular nasty looking dagger.

"We leave. Seems Angelus was lucky once again," he said turning to go, but stopping when he noticed the baby crying.

Justine took the dagger in her hand testing the balance of it, instantly liking the knife. She then turned toward the vampire hunter, pocketing the blade.

"And what about the baby? Maybe we should call an ambulance before leaving."

Holtz made his way toward the unconscious Fred and the little crying baby. Kneeling down he putted the crossbow on the marble floor and took the little boy in his hands. Rising up, he gently cradled Connor against his chest and made his way toward the sofa softly humming the same song he did before kicking in the barrel that made Caritas blow up.

"You must take it with you, that is how you will get to him," said the familiar voice of Sahjhan coming out of nowhere to stand behind Justine who jumped two feet in the air startled by the demon.

"Jesus! God damn demon," she said throwing a punch at him, but was surprised to see her fist go through him.

"Now now, no time for this pretty one," he said turning his attention toward Holtz once more.

"Its the first step to get your revenge and fulfill the prophecy, but we must take the little one here and be on our way. Big bad daddy will be home soon," added Sahjhan.

"Like I said, I will show him no mercy," Holtz said as he left the hotel with Justine on his heels and Connor in his arms.

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Meanwhile in Sunnydale

Huf.. Huf.. Damn him, should have staked him years ago, damn vampire.. Take that.

The blonde slayer was pummeling the punching bag relentlessly, trying to get her mind on something other than a certain blonde vampire, but her training only made it worse.

What does he know ! He thinks he understands me, yeah right! 'Like birds of a bloody feather' whatever that means. I still can't believe he threw me out, just when we were having.. NO! NO! NO! Bad Buffy! It was wrong and will not happen again. It must not happen again, EVER again. What did he mean when he said if he couldn't have all of me? What more does he want? Why am I still thinking about him? Focus, hit the bag, forget about the evil soulless vampire'

Buffy sent a high kick on the punching bag, pausing for a moment to stretch her strained arms from the violent work out. Lately she had been trying to avoid him, trying to focus on finding the three geeks that nearly vanished her. Running her fingers trough her tangled locks, it reminded her of how short they were now. And this thought only prompted the reason why she did it; to get back at him in some twisted way. Frustrated at her inability to ignore him, she threw one last powerful punch toward the bag nearly sending it flying off its socket.

"Give the defenseless bag a chance, Buff," Xander said casually standing by the door with his usual goofy grin.

Buffy only rewarded him with a small forced smile, leaning back against the nearby wall, eyeing the still moving bag.

"Can you drive Dawn to school again tomorrow morning? I have to get up early and look around for a job," she added while turning to face him.

"Yeah sure. You know the Xanman is always there for his favorite girls. And don't worry, Buffy, a talented girl like you won't have any problem finding a good job," he said encouragingly patting her shoulder to comfort her.

"Yeah well, I don't think my resume will really leave a hire me' impression on any possible employers, since my life this past few years has been about allniter fun out with the undeads and the demons," she pouted while making her way inside the Magic Box where she heard the voice of her kid sister.

Inside the shop, Anya was happily counting the money, when she heard the bell above the door jingle. Looking up with her forced smile to greet the customer she realized it was Dawn and relaxed.

"So how was school today, Dawn?" questioned Anya with her usual over excited tone.

"Same old boring, mind numbing..." but then she saw her sister enter the shop from the training room and feigned ignoring her.

Buffy grabbed her coat and bag and made her way toward Dawn indicating they were going home. They all quickly exchanged goodbyes and the sisters where on their way home, silently walking side by side.

About half way to Rivello Drive, Dawn finally spoke.

"Why hasn't Spike stopped by the house lately? I really miss him," asked the teenager looking sideways at her sister, awaiting an answer.

"I don't know Dawnie. You know, evil vampire. Probably has a lot more on his mind than stopping by the house," fidgeted a very nervous Buffy. The mention of the blonde vampire made her weak in the knees and flushed all over.

Dawn suddenly stopped and forced Buffy to turn around and face her.

"You had a fight with him!" she accused. "You probably said lots of mean things again and that is why you are all nervous and weird and lying to me. And that is why he is avoiding me and the house because of YOU!" shouted Dawn while storming pass Buffy.

Buffy didn't know how to respond, so she walked faster to catch up with her younger sibling. Many things where coming to her mind right now, but she needed to calm down before getting in another argument with the volatile teenager.

With Willow home and the sun setting, maybe I could go for a patrol later. It would be good to get some fresh air. And I could stop by his crypt later and tell him Dawn misses him. We could probably go patrol together.'

Buffy was suddenly pulled out of reverie when they arrived home.

Yeah, I will see him later to make everything clear, no more secrets.'

It was killing her..

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Los Angeles, Later the same evening

Lilah Morgan looked up at the clock on her desk: it showed 11:34 PM in bright red light. Another long night in the office, she thought to herself. She was called in for another emergency meeting over the whole Angel and Darla situation and their miracle offspring. Seems the senior partners aren't too happy about the child escaping their grasps. They had been informed about this new player foretold in the Nyazian scroll. Daniel Holtz, she discovered, had succeeded where they had failed again and again. The child was now in his possession, probably to use it as bait for his revenge on Angel.

Lilah looked up when the door to her office opened. She saw Gavin and Linwood walking in.

"Hello sir," she greeted Linwood politely, throwing Gavin her usual disgusted look.

"Lilah, we have been urged by the senior partners to find that time traveler and get the baby back from him at any cost. They want the baby, badly." Linwood emphasized the last part of the sentence stressing the importance of this project.

"Maybe we could send another commando team in, sir," suggested Gavin with his usual up tight voice.

"Yeah, it worked swell the last time, Gavin," added Lilah venomously.

"Why don't you share with us some your genius then?" retorted Gavin.

"Both of you, enough ! We don't have time for this. We are in a critical situation. We have a very pissed off vampire with two of his partners in the hospital, a mad vampire hunter with the child, and the demanding expectations of the senior partners. I think we have enough problems without creating more among ourselves," Linwood sternly scolded them.

He was now pacing and thinking.

"We could call in our remaining seers and summon our most powerful demon allies. I know we don't usually do things this way, but we really do need fast results this time," proposed a somewhat confident Lilah.

Linwood stopped and eyed both of his more promising employees.

"Yes. That is a great idea. Wake everyone concerned and tell them they better be here very soon. Tonight we take the baby back and maybe it will drive our concerned vampire over the edge. Exactly where we want him," added a victorious Linwood with a creepy smile on his face that made Lilah cringe.

Within the next minute Lilah and Gavin where on the phone, calling everyone they would need for tonight's busy schedule.

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Meanwhile in England

Rupert Giles was taking a stroll in the city he left so long ago. Being alone like this made him somewhat nostalgic, he missed his Slayer, her kid sister and the rest of the gang. Rounding a particular corner he knew too well, he realized he was slowly making his way toward the Headquarters of the Council of Watchers.

At the exact same time, a very busy Quentin Traverse was in a secret meeting with the triumvirate of the most powerful members of the council.

"Sirs, I know we have discussed this often, but now is the time to make our decision. Our resources to fight the forces of darkness have been seriously crippled. We have a very rebellious Slayer on our hands and another one in jail. Buffy Summers's vampire lover is now supposedly fighting our fight in Los Angeles with a rogue member of our order. We always fancied ourselves as the most influential men on the planet on the occult subject." Quentin waited before continuing his speech, pausing for effect letting the others digest this information.

"And lately we have been informed that we missed a key event in the prophecies unfolding as we speak. It was reported that a miracle child was born of this Angelus, a vampire with a soul, and to his long time love, the other master vampire, Darla. From what we could gather, this child is the nexus to these events. I think we should seize the moment and put ourselves back in control of the game. We should do everything in our power to capture the boy and hide him for the time being until he can be trained and used by us as a warrior of the light." He waited another moment to let the idea sink in. From their looks he knew he was winning them. If he had their influences, no one could stop him.

"And to make ourselves even more capable of defeating this upcoming apocalypse, we should... terminate both Slayers... We all know how it goes, one dies and the next one his called." Quentin then eyed them one by one, waiting.

"One loyal to our cause and to the good fight," he added finally.

They all whispered to each other and finally the elder, Roland Hatchet looked up and nodded.

"We will go ahead with your plan Quentin, but make sure you don't fail," he said emphasizing the word fail.

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Sunnydale, later that night

Buffy was walking toward Spike's crypt, she finally told herself she wouldn't stop by, but before she could realize where her legs guided her, she was standing before his door.

Oh shit, what am I doing here ? Ok no need to panic. He doesn't know you are here. Still time to turn around, wrap the patrol and go back home for a good night sleep.'

But as she turned around she jumped back, startled that she hadn't felt him. The blond vampire was standing in front of her, his head tilted to the side with his usual cocky smile.

"Hello, luv. Can I help you with anything?" he crooned taking two steps toward her, hearing her heart starting to pump faster. He loved the effect he had on her.

"I just came by to see if you wanted to patrol, but I realize it's late and I should go home," she stammered trying to walk pass him. He blocked her hastened departure by standing in front of her.

"Luv, you didn't come all the way here simply to go back home. I can see you have something on your mind. Maybe you would fancy sharing it with me," he added smiling while gently running his right hand down her left thigh, slowly making his way up when she shoved him away violently, but not before letting a moan slip between her lips.

"You're a pig, Spike! And don't call me that!" she flustered taking a stake out of her coat, facing the now braced off blonde vampire.

"Oh.. I see... that's how it is, pet. You come and shag me when your invisible but then, when it gets real, you go back to being a cold bitch." Closing on her again, his chest was now pressed against the stake she aimed at his heart.

Both blondes were too caught up in each other to see a short man watching them, leaning against a nearby crypt, a short man with bad taste in clothes and a brownish hat, talking to himself while observing them.

"C'mon kids, you have to get your acts together. The big moment is coming and you both have to be on your best behavior. It's all on the line now," said the immortal demon with an New York accent, eyeing the arguing couple one last time before disappearing into the shadows.

To be Continued....