Disclaimer: All characters and things from ANGEL and BUFFY belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. If they aren't on the show they belong to me.

Summary: Takes place after "Waiting In The Wings". What if Angel and Cordelia hadn't been interrupted, and how would the outcomes of that one event change the lives of the Fang Gang forever? A/C pairing

CHAPTER 8

Angel found himself in line at the JFK airport. It had been about two weeks since he had left Sunnydale, and, after taking time to decide what he was going to do and where he was going to go, he had managed his way back to New York City, the first piece of American soil he had ever set his foot on.

He looked down at his boarding pass, thinking of the last time he had crossed the Atlantic. It sure had not been on a plane, and he had definitely not crossed the ocean in a few hours. His trip to America had taken much longer back in the day.

"On business?" The man behind Angel asked, his Irish brogue thick.

"No." Angel said simply, wondering why the man behind him was so friendly. People in cities were never really out of their way friendly, especially not in New York. "Going home."

"You don't sound like you're from the motherland." The Irishman continued.

Angel turned to look at the man behind him, noticing how he kind of resembled Doyle. He was about Doyle's age, if Doyle were still alive, and he had dark, messy hair, although this man was in a suit, something Angel had never seen Doyle in. "I lived there a long time ago."

The Irishman put a hand on Angel's shoulder. "It's good to have you back then."

Angle nodded, looking ahead as the airline assistant motioned him to come forward and make his way onto the plane. This was Angel's way of making sure he would never hurt Connor or Cordelia. He was going home, back to Ireland. He was sure he could do some good there, and he figured, if he were to lose his mind and hurt someone, it would not be anyone he really truly cared about. The only two people who mattered to him were both back in Los Angeles. Cordelia and Connor were far away.

Cordelia sighed, she was tired of chasing Connor from room to room in the house. As she predicted the child had picked up his crawling skills greatly the past week, and was now even standing if he could find something to lean his little body against. Needless today, with Dennis' help, Cordelia had spent the past week baby proofing the apartment, and things weren't getting any easier for the expectant mother. She was now a little over two months pregnant and it was visible. Fred had taken her shopping last week and she was grateful for it. Still, she knew she had along way to go in the weight gaining department.

"Connor…" Cordelia said tiredly as she watched the child turn, look at her from down the hall, and take off on his hands and knees into the living room with a little grin on his face.

"Dennis! Some help?" Cordelia looked for her ghost as she made her way into the living room. There she found that Dennis had indeed helped her, distracting Connor with a ball.

Cordelia picked Connor up. "Thanks, Dennis." She then turned her attention to the child in her hands. "You, mister, better not keep this taking off act up. A few more weeks and I'm not going to be able to chase you anymore."

Cordelia sat on the couch, trying her best to get Connor's little feet into a pair of socks, but kept finding her hump of a stomach to be an obstacle. She thought back to Darla's pregnancy with Connor and how big the vampire had been. She prayed that it wasn't Angel that had made Darla get so big, she didn't think she could handle all of that weight.

Cordelia's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. She finished getting Connor's socks on and then grabbed the child, placing him on her hip and making her way to the door. "Who is it?"

"It's me!" Fred's voice rang from the other side of the door.

Cordelia sighed. She wished everyone would stop popping in to 'say hi' like they all had been for the past week or so. Cordelia had assured all of her friends she was fine, although they didn't seem to buy it and neither did she. If it hadn't been for Connor or the new baby Cordelia was sure she would have lost it a long time ago. She really missed Angel.

"Cordy?" Fred's voice came through the door.

"Yeah." Cordelia opened the door and motioned for Fred to come in. "Sorry…it's getting harder for me to move around." She looked down at her stomach.

"No biggie." Fred said, smiling at Connor. "I just wanted to come by and see how you two were doing."

"We're good." Cordelia assured Fred as she took a seat back on the couch. "Aren't we Connor?"

Connor took his hands, smashing Cordelia's cheeks in with them, and then giggling.

"Alright, enough of that you." Cordelia put him on the floor to allow him to crawl around.

Fred watched the child, and then turned to see Cordelia also watching Connor, like a proud mother would watch her own child.

"He's getting good at it." Fred commented, taking a seat next to Cordelia.

"The crawling?" Cordelia leaned back into the couch, rubbing her expanding stomach and stretching out her back.

"Yeah." Fred nodded.

"I know." Cordelia said. "He is already standing."

"That means he will be walking soon." Fred said.

"Please…" Cordelia sighed. "Don't remind me. I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up with him."

"Well, the hotel is always open, Cordelia." Fred reminded the seer. "You can come back, move in, anytime."

"I know." Cordelia told her. "But I'm not. Connor and I are fine here, Dennis is here. I like my apartment." She was getting defensive. It wasn't that she hated the Hotel, she didn't, it just reminded her too much of Angel. She had enough reminders of the vampire already, Connor, her new baby, and her visions just to name a few, she didn't need any more.

"Okay." Fred decided to change the subject. "When do you think he's going to start talking?"

"Connor?" Cordelia asked.

"Yes." Fred nodded.

Cordelia shrugged. "I'm not sure. Soon I guess?"

"Usually they talk before they walk." Fred said.

"I think that's girls." Cordelia commented. She had read that in one of the baby books she had recently bought.

"Either way, maybe we should get him practicing." Fred said, leaning down so she was eye level with Connor who was busy inspecting the couch cushion. "Hey Connor, who is that?" She pointed to Cordelia.

Connor looked at Fred, and then mimicked her, also pointing to Cordelia.

"Yeah." Fred smiled. "Is that your mommy? Can you say mommy?"

Cordelia didn't know what to say. She wasn't sure if Connor should be calling her mommy. "Fred, maybe we shouldn't do that."

"Why not?" Fred asked.

"Well…" Cordelia looked down at her hands. "I'm not his mother."

"You are now." Fred told the seer. "You've always been the closest thing he has ever had to one and now you're taking care of him. Trust me, you're his mom."

"Still…" Cordelia didn't want to make a decision like that without Angel. Sure she felt like Connor's mother, but it wasn't her place…her thoughts were interrupted by something.

"Ma." Connor said, clear as glass.

Cordelia's jaw dropped at what Connor had just said. She glanced at the child, feeling the tears forming in her eyes and cursing her raging hormones all at the same time.

Fred looked back and forth between Cordelia and Connor. She couldn't help the smile that was on her face.

"Ma?" Connor questioned Cordelia with the same look of impatience Angel got every once and awhile when Cordelia would ignore him or his comment.

The look on the child's face snapped Cordelia out of her trance and she smiled down at Connor. "Yes, baby?"

Connor reached up at her with a little smile, wanting her to pick him up. Cordelia did so gladly, pulling Connor as close as she could with her stomach, and giving him a tight little hug. This was the bond she had been afraid to form with the child, afraid that if she had gotten to close, Angel would just come back and Connor would leave her. Not that Cordelia did not want Angel to come back, she did. She wanted him to know he had another child on the way, and wanted a happy ending for all of them, but as she sat there, Connor in her arms, she realized that Angel was really gone. Angel might not ever come back.

Giles paced back and forth in his kitchen. He had tried to get a hold of Wesley three times, and still no answer. He continued to study the prophecy in front of him, hoping that, if he did get through to Wesley, he was correct and did not get everyone's hopes up for nothing.

Suddenly, Giles door swung open, causing the old man to jump a little.

"Relax, Giles." Buffy smiled, bouncing into the kitchen. "It's just me."

"Buffy." Giles gave her a nod.

"Why are you so jumpy?" Buffy asked, curiously.

"Nothing." Giles said quickly. He did not want to tell Buffy about the whole Angel situation, or how the vampire had been staying with him up until a few weeks ago.

"Right…and I am not the vampire slayer." Buffy wasn't buying Giles excuses for a minute. Then she noticed the paper in his hand. "What's that?"

Giles looked at the paper in his hand, the prophecy about Angel, no scratch that the false prophecy about Angel. He couldn't believe he hadn't seen it earlier, he assumed it was because he had not ever held it up to the light, but as he had been putting it back in the envelope to send to Wesley he had seen it. The company logo, almost transparent to the eye, which the paper was written on; right there, in the middle of the prophecy stood the words WOLFRAM AND HART. Giles recalled the name immediately, having heard enough about it from Buffy when she spoke of Angel. He then looked into the company further and found that they were in the business of creating false prophecies among other things.

"Giles?" Buffy questioned.

"Hmm?" Giles looked at his slayer.

"What is that?" She pointed to the paper again.

"Its…" Giles sighed. He would have to tell her because he knew she wouldn't stop asking until he did. "It's a prophecy. Wesley's sent me it. It's about Angel."

"What does it say?" Buffy seemed extremely curious now, just as Giles had suspected.

Giles sighed, showing her the paper. "That he is going to kill Connor."

Buffy's eyes grew wide as she read the paper. Sure, she was not thrilled at the idea of Connor, mostly because he had been a product of Angel's wild night with Darla, but she knew Angel loved his son more than anything. She immediately threw the paper back at Giles. "We have to warn them!"

"No." Giles said, putting a hand on her shoulder before she could bolt out the door.

"No?" Buffy was outraged. "Are you kidding me, Giles? It says Angel is going to kill his son! His son! We have to tell them! We have to stop him!"

"He already stopped himself!" Giles said quickly, almost bitterly.

Buffy calmed down, unsure of what Giles meant by this. "What?" A million thoughts raced through Buffy's head about what Giles could have meant by his comment.

"He left L.A." Giles sighed. "Wesley found the prophecy and Angel took off."

"Where is Connor?" Buffy asked.

"With Cordelia." Giles told her.

Buffy snorted at that. "Great…" She said sarcastically.

Giles, maybe because of how fondly Angel had spoke of Cordelia, felt the need to defend the former May Queen. "Angel left Connor with her for a reason."

"Okay." Buffy seemed confused by Giles attitude change.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter because the prophecy isn't true." Giles continued. "I don't think it is anyway. Look." He showed Buffy the Wolfram and Hart symbol and watched her nod, a furious look on her face.

"Those people are always screwing around with Angel." Buffy fumed. "Is there any way to be sure that this is definitely fake."

"There are a few spells I could run, or rather Wesley could run." Giles told her.

"Then we go to L.A. and run them." Buffy said.

"Uh I'm not so sure that's a good idea…" Giles said, afraid if he went to L.A. he would expose that Angel had been in Sunnydale, confiding in him. "Maybe we should just send Wesley this stuff back and tell him what we think."

"Giles…" Buffy looked at her watcher. "It's Angel."

And that was all she needed to say to get Giles to agree to go to Los Angeles. It was that and the look on her face. The look that made Giles firmly believed that Angel had been her true love, and no matter how Buffy tried to move on from the vampire, she never really would. However, after spending the past few weeks listening to Angel, Giles believed the vampire had moved on to someone else from Sunnydale. Giles had a feeling Angel had fallen in love with Cordelia over the past few years and just had never gotten the chance to tell the ex-cheerleader that.

Wesley and Gunn had been out walking the streets of downtown Los Angeles for the last hour and a half. They were looking for Holtz like they had been every other afternoon they had sent Fred over to "check" on Cordelia and Connor. They did not trust Holtz, nor did they trust Cordelia being pregnant and alone in her apartment.

"This is stupid." Gunn stopped walking, causing Wesley to stop. "Why are we doing this again?"

"Because this is the last place any of us have seen Holtz." Wesley reminded Gunn.

"No, the last place any of us saw him would be when Cordelia saw him at her apartment." Gunn corrected Wesley.

"Well, we can't stalk Cordelia's apartment complex so this is the plan." Wesley told him.

"Why not?" Gunn asked. "Why can't we stalk Cordy's place? It's the only way any of us are gonna sleep at night. She should just come back to the hotel…"

"Well she is not going to." Wesley said suddenly. He was sick of listening to Gunn. "She isn't going to come back because all that hotel holds for her are empty rooms and memories. She doesn't need that. So if she wants to stay in her apartment that is where she will stay." He didn't mean to sound so angry, he just felt for Cordelia. He had known her the longest out of all of them and he could tell she was hurting, deep down, more than anyone else could imagine.

"Okay. Fine." Gunn was surprised at Wesley's outburst. "You're right. She should be able to stay in her apartment." He picked up his walk again. "Let's just find Holtz. The faster we do that and get him off our back and away from Cordelia and Connor the better off we are."

"Okay." Wesley nodded, a little surprised at himself for standing up to Gunn so well and also somewhat surprised at Gunn for stepping down like he did. It was something new for Wesley, to not be stepped all over, and he felt good about it.

Holtz made his way down the stairs and into the club. He felt very uncomfortable mixing himself in this kind of atmosphere, with all the demons and vampires, but he knew it was necessary for his plan. He had to find the green faced demon that Angel had called a friend.

Lorne had spotted Holtz the minute he had walked into Caritas and he was not happy at all. He had no idea why the man was there, and frankly, he didn't care. All he knew was Holtz had tried to kill Angel, and now had been seen by Cordelia's house. Lorne quickly made his way up the vampire hunter.

"You're not welcome here." Lorne said through a tight lip to Holtz.

"I believe you welcome all kinds here." Holtz said back to Lorne through an equally tight lip. "I need to speak with you."

Lorne thought for a minute and then narrowed his eye. "Fine. You can't touch me in here anyway. This is a sanctuary."

Holtz nodded. "I am not here to kill you."

"Fine." Lorne said, moving aside to take Holtz toward a booth where they could talk quietly.

Holtz followed, taking a seat across from Lorne. "You need to know something."

"That you're crazy?" Lorne raised an eyebrow. "We already knew that."

Holtz narrowed his eyes at Lorne. "I'm not amused."

"And I'm not trying to be a circus act." Lorne said right back.

Holtz looked around the club, a slight smile on his face but said nothing.

"What are you here for, because I've got a line of people waiting for me, cupcake." Lorne was growing impatient.

"Very well." Holtz began. "I believe Miss Chase as well as young Connor are in danger."

Lorne snorted. "From what? You?"

"I know it seems that I would be the last person to come to you with this information, but I do not believe in punishing the innocent, and they both are innocent." Holtz sighed, leaning back. "I have been working side by side with Wolfram and Hart, thinking they wanted me to destroy Angel, but all they wanted to do was bring Angelus back." Holtz shook his head. "And now I found out that they plan to take Connor out as well. Granted, the child is spawn of two vampires, but he has done nothing wrong yet. And now, Miss Chase's child…" Holtz shook his head. "Things could get messy."

"How do you know about Cordelia's baby?" Lorne asked.

"I've seen her. She is pregnant, clearly." Holtz said. "But I heard her also. It is Angel's, is it not?"

Lorne stood quickly. "You need to go. Now! You leave Cordelia alone, do you hear me?"

"I know you're upset." Holtz stood as well. "But what I am telling you is the truth. I cannot prove it and you have no reason to believe me…"

Lorne narrowed his eyes. "Sing."

"What?" Holtz was confused.

"Sing for me, big guy." Lorne replied, his voice almost bitter. "Sing and I'll know if it's the truth."

Holtz seemed this to be an odd request, but then remembered he had heard something about Lorne's odd talents. "Very well." He complied, singing an old English lullaby.

Holtz had only gotten a few verses into the song when Lorne beckoned him to stop. "That's enough…" The green demon looked greener than usual.

"Are you alright?" Holtz asked.

Lorne narrowed his eyes at Holtz. "You let them play Angel. You let them make up a prophecy that made him think he was going to kill his son. You let him run away from his work and the helpless and Cordelia! You let him leave, he doesn't even know Cordy is having his baby! And for what? To torture him? To kill him? Don't you think the fact that you have driven him from all that mattered is enough?"

"Angelus is evil…" Holtz started.

"Angelus is gone! That's not Angelus!" Lorne waved his hands around. "Angel is here now and Angel is good, and now he is gone because of you. Wolfram and Hart has free reign over this city right now because you can't get over something that happened over a century ago!"

"He killed my family!" Holtz was growing angrier and angrier as Lorne lectured him.

"No. Angelus did. You're not after the same vampire anymore." Lorne told him. "And now, we might as all be dead."

Holtz calmed down for a moment. "What do you suggest?"

"You are coming back to the hotel and explaining this all." Lorne said. "Then somehow, we need to find Angel."

Holtz thought for a minute, nodding. "I will come with you. I have played some role in this…"

"Gee…you think?" Lorne rolled his eyes.

"I will come." Holtz repeated slowly. "However, don't think I hate Angel any less. He is still a vampire and should not be walking this earth."

"Well thanks for the help, buttercup." Lorne said sarcastically. "Come on."

"Not tonight." Holtz said.

"What? Why?" Lorne asked.

"Because." Holtz moved away from the demon. "I need time to sort things out. I came to you. Be grateful for that." And with that Holtz walked out of the club, leaving Lorne there to soak in all the information and decide if he was going to tell Wesley, Gunn, Fred, and Cordelia, or if he would wait until Holtz came to the hotel. He decided that maybe Holtz was the man to hear it all from.

Angel made his way out of the airport. It was the middle of the night and he was grateful for that, seeing as how he would not be able to get out of the airport if it was not. He looked around, taking in all the sights around him. It astounded him, so much was different, so much had changed since he had last been there.

"You look a little lost there." A man with a deep irish accient said. He had found a place on the sidewalk and was making himself comfortable.

"Just taking it all in." Angel told him. He wasn't in the mood to talk really.

"Ireland is a beautiful place." The man told him.

Somehow, Angel found the odd man a little comforting. He nodded in agreement. "It is. Changed a lot."

"You've been here before?" The man asked.

"I grew up here." Angel said.

"With that American accent?" The man laughed through his brough.

Angel glared at the man, not liking how he was challenging his roots. "A long time ago."

Before the man could say anymore, Angel started making his way down the street. He figured he would catch a taxi and make his way into Dublin where he could drown his worries and memories in a few too many beers.