Chapter 10

Once in Xander's car, Willow explained everything to Faith while driving. Faith took it all in silently, nodding slowly now and again. Once she had finished, Willow tugged her cell phone out of her jacket pocket and dialed the number of Angel's hotel.

"Angel Investigations."

"Fred?"

"Yup. Oh, Willow?"

"Yeah. We're on our way. What's going on?" Fred filled Willow in on all the details, including everything about Connor, Angel's son. Willow relayed everything to Faith, who was shocked, like Willow, about Connor.

"Aren't vamps supposed to be, you know, sterile or whatever?"

"Yeah." Willow said, tucking her phone away and concentrating on the road. They drove in silence for a few minutes until Faith leaned forward and turned on the radio. They both jumped at the loud, enthusiastic voice of the announcer.

"Welcome back to our Beatles marathon! Next song, coming right up!" The music started. Willow bobbed her head along until she registered what the lyrics were.

"I've just seen a face, I can't forget the time or place where we just met, she's just the girl for me and I want all the world to see we've met. Had it been another day I might have looked the other way and I'd have never been aware, but as it is I'll dream of her tonigh—"" Faith quickly switched to a different channel with an awkward look at Willow. Clearly they were both thinking that perhaps that song was written for them, but instead of being romantic, it was a little weird.

Faith leaned back in her seat as they listened to some loud, thudding techno music. She drummed her fingers on the dashboard, wishing she had brought something to do. When they finally came to a halt in front of the Hyperion Hotel, Willow dashed inside, wanting to make sure everyone was okay, and that Angelus hadn't invaded or anything. Faith got out more slowly and followed her inside. By the time she got there Willow was deep in conversation with Fred about science. Or possibly magic. She wasn't really sure. Faith shared a very awkward greeting with Wesley, but that wasn't surprising, seeing how she had tortured him nearly to death during their last meeting.

They all sat around the lobby and gave official introductions. Faith took one look at Angel's greasy-haired kid and hated him. Sweet Willow was being friendly, but it was clear there was something about him that threw her a little. Faith rounded up the fighters of the bunch and took them off into the evening, Angelus-hunting, leaving Willow and Fred to magic things around and try to find the jar.

"Anything yet?" Willow was lying upside down on the circular couch in the lobby. Her feet were up on the top of it, and her head was just resting on the floor.

"Nope." Fred was lounging on the stairs. It had been half an hour of turning ancient pages in ancient books and brainstorming ideas. They had already tried a locator spell, which gave no results.

"Connor?" There was a shout from upstairs.

"It looks like Cordelia's awake." Fred said, sitting up. Willow flipped over and stood up. "You could probably go visit her now."

"Hey, Cordy." Willow poked her head through the door. Cordelia was lying in bed with the covers bunched all around her. It looked like she'd been lying there for days.

"Willow? Oh my God! It's been forever!" Willow came over and sat down on the edge of her bed.

"How've you been?"

"Higher Power. You?"

"Ultimate evil. Oh—but I'm better now."

"So…where's Connor?" Willow could tell she was trying to sound casual, but there was an edge in Cordelia's voice.

"Faith took him out to find Angelus—"

"Faith? She's here? I thought you were going to bring Buffy."

"Buffy's busy. But anyway, what do you think we should do about the soul? Fred and I are out of ideas."

"A soul trapped in a jar, stolen right outta our safe, impervious to magic."

"Yup."

"Tough nut to crack." Willow nodded slowly, until suddenly something clicking into place. She jumped to her feet. We just break the jar!

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I doubt it." There was something odd about Cordelia's face. She was holding her arm at a funny angle too. But there was no time to fathom Cordy's weird positioning. She had to get back to the lobby! "Could you hand me that glass of water?" Willow barely heard her, she was so excited.

"We just break the jar!"

"That's great, I'm really thirsty—"

"We don't even have to know where it is! This is great, Cordy," She continued, making her way to the door. "We're gonna get him back!" She raced back into the hall, hearing a loud thud behind her. Must have been the door swinging shut.

Willow jumped the last four stairs into the lobby. "The jar!" she shouted.

"You found it?!" Fred was back at the reception counter, flipping through another leather bound volume.

"No." Willow said. "I just thought of an idea—"

"You didn't have to escort me. I'm not a kid!" The sound of the front doors of the hotel banging open cut Willow off. Connor came through first, looking very angry, and Gunn followed, looking incredibly amused. Connor shot a filthy look at Willow, who smiled sweetly, and dashed upstairs, no doubt to see Cordelia. Gunn pulled off his jacket and tossed his crossbow onto the couch.

"What's the what?" He asked, strolling over, leaving muddy footprints behind him. Willow was reminded strongly of Faith, and smiled fondly at him. Gunn grinned back, looking a little confused, but pleased nonetheless. Willow quickly came to her senses and shook her head.

"I had an idea. We could use Delothrian's Arrow." She said, trying to act as though that was why she had been grinning stupidly at Gunn. She couldn't hide from it any longer, nor could she hide it from anyone else. She was slightly head over heels in love with the dark haired Slayer.

Author's Note: Sorry this chapter took so long, everyone. I had to sit down and watch Orpheus so I could get most of the stuff right.