[Disclaimer] Please don't sue me. They aren't mine!
[Feedback] I'm a card holding feedbackoholic
[Pairing] C&A all the way- with slight W&F shadows

[A/N] I am so sorry this is taking so long, but I'm having a hard time getting through the writers block. I'm not quite sure I like this story as much as I used to, so could you please send me some feedback and tell me what you think? Because I am dangerously close to just deleting it.

This wasn't right.

Fred should have been waking up in a warm bed, with noise coming from downstairs. Cordelia playing with Connor while Angel cooked breakfast. Wes and Gunn playing a video game with the TV unnecessarily loud. She should be pulling her large, warm comforter off of her. The one Cordelia had bought for her when she returned from Pylea. She would climb out of bed, and take a hot shower, then go downstairs and wait for a vision or a client.

But she wasn't.

Instead, she was cold.

Fred stirred and gradually woke up. Instead of lying contentedly under her warm comforter, she found herself shivering on the cold tile. The only noise she heard was soft snoring from Gunn and the sound of the seconds ticking away on the dreaded mantle clock. She tried to focus her eyes and she sat up. She didn't know how long she had been asleep, or when the large man outside had left them alone. The last thing she remembered was running into the room, and trying to keep the man out. She didn't quite remember anything else. Time had begun to lose meaning. Fred stood to her feet and looked around. A few feet away, Gunn lay on the ground, the sword only inches form his fingertips. Wes stood at the fireplace, watching the clock. "Wesley." Fred said softly, so not to wake Gunn.

Wes turned around to face her. "Good morning, Fred."

Fred sighed and took a few steps towards him. "Is it really?"

"Really what? Really good or really morning?"

"Both."

Wes smiled in spite of the situation. "No, and yes. It's 7:00 am. But I don't think anything about this can be considered good, huh?"

Fred took a few more steps towards him. "Do you think Cordy and Angel are ok?"

Wes sighed. "There's really no way to tell. It's seven now... we've been here since 10:00 pm. That's nine hours. We haven't seen them in about eight."

"Do you think that man got to them?"

Wes shook his head. "I don't know."

Fred walked the rest of the distance to him. "I'm real scared, Wes."

He nodded. "I am too."

She reached out and grabbed his hand and he gently squeezed it.

"We'll get out of here." Wes said.

"I know. I trust you."

*****

Never before had her feet felt so heavy.

Cordelia felt like she had been walking for days. Her feet ached and her stomach grumbled and complained about it's lack of dinner. She found herself daydreaming of lemon chicken, and steak and pork chops... her stomach grumbled again and she felt her mouth water.

Cordy snorted to herself. Talk about Pavlovian behavior.

Beside her, Angel walked silently. They hadn't spoken too much since their outburst an hour ago. Cordy patted her stomach and tried to focus on other things.

Mommy, I'm home.

Cordelia stopped walking and strained her ears. "Did you hear that?" She asked Angel. He nodded and looked around the empty hallway.

Hello, Lilth. I made some cookies for you.

Cordelia stopped walking, and looked around again. "It's coming from that room." She said, pointing a few feet away from them. A simple oak door stood, soft pinkish light seeping through the space from the door and the floor. Slowly, Cordelia made her way, and put her hand on the knob.

Yum! Chocolate chip cookies. My favorite.

"Cordy, don't." Angel said, "It's probably just a trap."

Cordelia didn't listen, instead turned the doorknob and stepped into the room.

Soft pink walls were decorated with beautiful carousel horses. In the far corner, a white dresser stood, the surface littered with crayons and cheap jewelry. A small pink jewelry box sat open, inside a ballerina spun to the tune of Fur Elise. A little bed with pink blankets sat across from the dresser, and doll houses and Barbie dolls were scattered all over the floor.

In the center of the large room, a small, child sat in front of a doll house. Many dolls were scattered around her. Dressed in a white nightgown, her long brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail and dark brown eyes peered up at her new visitors.

"Who are you?" She asked.

Cordelia took a few uneven steps towards the child. Angel put a hand on her shoulder. She wasn't sure if it was to support her or to remind her not to get too close. "I'm Cordelia."

A look of happiness crossed the girls features. "My name is Lilth. I live here." A bright smile lit up the child's face. Angel was blown away. Something about the way she smiled told him that maybe she didn't do it too often.

Cordelia shrugged Angel's hand off her shoulder and knelt down in front of Lilith. "Really?" She said, with pseudo surprise in her voice. "What are you playing?"

The smile faded. "I'm pretending."

"About what?"

"I'm pretending... that I have a family. That loves me." Cordelia choked back tears but the girl continued. "Maybe if I wish real hard, I can get out of here."


Cordelia stood up. "Angel, we should take her with us." Angel reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards him and away from the little girl.

"Cordelia. I'm sorry you have to see this, and I feel bad for her, too." He lowered his voice when he noticed Lilith staring at him. "But you have to keep in mind how many traps we have fallen into today, and how many times we've almost gotten killed."

"But Angel...She's so young. And she... she's alone. I know what she's going through. I can't leave her."

"Cordelia...We can't do this. Let's just leave now."

Cordy ripped her arm away from his hand. "How dare you think that! This is an innocent child. I'm not leaving her. You can go, I'm staying." Cordy didn't let Angel get another word in as she walked back to the child. She reached down and took her hand. "I will stay with you. How about that?"

Genuine happiness washed across the little girls face and she squeezed Cordy's hand in silent reply.

"That sounds great." Cordelia and Angel turned toward the sound of the new voice. Adam stood in the doorway, in all his immenseness, with Eve just a few feet in front of him. "Yes." Eve said in a silky smooth voice. "We can make a party out of that. Won't we, Lilth?"

Cordelia turned towards the little girl who clung to her. The child's hazel eyes turned towards her feet.

"I don't want a party." Lilith said quietly.

Eve strolled over to Lilith and yanked her hand off of Cordelia. "No party?" She pushed the child down and put a slender hand on Cordelia's upper arm. "Then we can have one by ourselves. Just us grownups."

Angel rushed to Cordy's side and attempted to remove Eve's hand, but Eve stopped him easily, as she grabbed his hand and yanked it backwards, dislocating his shoulder and sending him sprawling into the white dresser.

"Let's go, dearie. Not much time left." Eve said as she dragged Cordelia out of the room. Cordy let out a startled yelp and tried to pull away from her, but Eve was too strong.


"Angel!"

Angel stood to his feet and cradled his dislocated arm, and began walking towards Eve once more. "Let her go." He said angrily. "Take me."

Eve laughed as she handed Cordy off to Adam, and the large man walked out of the room. "You're worthless to me." She began to turn away, and then, almost as an afterthought, "Don't worry. I won't kill her." She walked out and the door slammed behind her, without being touched. Angel ran to the door and tried to pull it open, but it held fast.

"Damn it!" He muttered and tried to pull it open again. He was too weak with only one arm. He grimaced as he attempted to shove his arm back into place. A sharp pain accompanied a sickening pop as his shoulder found its place in its socket again. Once the throbbing stopped, he tried to pull the door open again, with both hands.

"It won't work." Angel turned to Lilith, who spoke for the first time since Eve had left. "I've tried to get out a lot of times. She keeps me in here."

Angel leaned against the door. "Who are you?"

"I'm Lilith. Don't you remember me?"

"Yes... I mean. Why are you in here?"

"Because... I've been here as long as I remember. My mommy put me in here. Because I'm bad. My mom wanted a special girl. But I'm human."

"...Is Eve your mother?"

"Yes." Lilith nodded and began to cry. "I don't know why she doesn't love me. Why she doesn't want me."

Angel crossed over to her and kneeled down in front of her. "Shhh..." He said, almost a little awkwardly. It had been a long time since he had dealt with a child. "I'll fix this. But first we need to get out of here."

Lilith stopped crying and looked around the room. "If I show you something, will you not tell my mommy?"

"Sure."

Lilith walked over to her bed and crawled under it. A few moments later, she returned, dirty and dusty. "I was playing once and I found this real cool hole in my floor."

Angel waked towards her, and looked under her bad, and sure enough, a trap door lay covered in dust.

"I never went in it, though. I'm afraid she would find out. I don't know where it goes. But maybe if you go with me, it won't be so scary. Maybe I'll finally get out of this place. And find a real family."

Angel was quiet as he stared at the trap door for a moment longer. "I'm going to get you out of here." He said finally. "You'll get out of this horrible place, and have a real family, one that loves you. I promise."

*****

"Ok." Wesley said, trying to take control of the situation. The clock on the mantel stated 10:00 a.m.. Three hours had passed since he and Fred woke, and they had barely moved from their place in front of the fireplace. At around 7:30, Gunn woke, and joined them in silent prayer that they would somehow find a way out. "We have three bodies, one large man, and a sword." He held the sword that had gotten them into so much trouble before.

"And yet, we are still the losing team." Gunn said, a little angry. "And we aren't getting any points by sitting in here, hiding."

"Well, we're still alive." Fred offered, "I think that's winning."

"Yeah, but how long until Frankenstein gets tired of playing hide and seek and just rips our heads off. That man could have easily taken that door off and gotten us, you know it's true Wesley. We are only alive now because he wants us to be. And that's it. A game of cat and mouse. He's only playing."

"Charles, don't talk like that." Fred protested.

"Gunn is right." Wesley admitted. "We need to take a chance and get out of here. He may be gone."

"But he may not!" Fred said, growing panicked now.

"Fred, if he's out there, he could easily get in here. We aren't safe anywhere. We may as well try to get out." Wes pointed to a door opposite the one they had come in. "Gunn, if that's the door we went through to get in here the fist time, then we will be going towards the front of the house. Right?"

"Yeah. We went through that door after Angel, Cordy, and Fred fell through the floor."

Wes nodded and began walking towards the door. Gunn followed, and Fred walked behind him, tentatively. Wes threw the door open, and looked down the hall, both ways. "Nothing is out here." He said. As he began stepping out the door, a loud crash sounded in the ball room behind them. Fred shrieked and tried to run out into the hallway, while Gunn and Wesley turned around, taking a defensive stance. As the dust settled, they noticed Angel's large body pulling himself up.

"Angel!" Gunn said, not hiding his happiness.

Fred smiled and ran to her boss. "I was so worried!" She then noticed the child he held in his arms. "Who's that?" She asked.

Angel put the child down and looked around. "This is Lilith. Eve's daughter."

"Ms. Nede brought her daughter to her haunted house?"

Angel took a deep sigh. "No. Ms. Nede MADE this house. And her daughter is trapped in here."

"What do you mean, made it?" Wesley asked.


"I mean, this was all a trap to get me. She made this house up, and separated us, so that she can get me."

"Why does she want you?"

Angel felt a little embarrassed. "She wanted me to make a perfect race. Its a long story. But now, shes got Cordy. We have to find her."