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 21
Cordelia slowly climbed out of Wesley's SUV, careful to not disturb the sleeping Liam in her arms. She had been released from the hospital after a few days and was now finally in front of her apartment, ready to take Liam home.
Any other parent would be happy for this moment, Cordelia thought, though she was happy. She was glad to finally get Liam home and into a routine, but she was sad she had to do it alone. It shouldn't be like this, Liam's father should be helping her. Angel should be there.
"Is this everything, Cordelia?" Wesley asked, holding up two small bags he pulled from the trunk.
Cordelia nodded, feeling Liam move in her arms. She looked down to see the child was awake now. "Hey baby." Cordelia smiled down at her son.
Liam only blinked a few times at Cordelia and then yawned.
"Let's get you two upstairs, shall we?" Wesley asked, carefully following Cordelia to her apartment, a step or two behind her just in case she lost her footing, not that he expected her to, but he just felt the need to watch out for her and Liam, especially since Angel wasn't around to do it.
Once Cordelia opened the door to her apartment she was immediately greeted with congratulation balloons courtesy of Phantom Dennis.
"Dennis!" Cordelia smiled, calling out to her ghost. "You didn't have to do this."
"I think Gunn and Connor helped." Wesley said, knowing that yesterday Gunn had brought Connor over to decorate the apartment for Cordelia and Liam's arrival home.
"Well, we will have to thank them, huh Liam?" Cordelia cooed at the child in her arms. She then turned to Wesley. "Where is Connor anyway?"
"Gunn and Fred are bringing him over in a little." Wesley said.
Cordelia nodded, anxious to see Connor. She had seen him the day before, but only in the morning when Fred had stopped by with him. He had been staying with Gunn and Fred at the hotel while Wesley and Lorne had taken turns staying with Cordelia at the hospital. Cordelia was grateful to have her family around.
"Anyway, do you want me to stay and wait for them or…?" Wesley asked.
"You can go, Wes." Cordelia told him. "I'll be fine. I am just going to feed Liam and then try and get some of my stuff unpacked."
"You're certain?" Wesley asked. It wasn't that he did not want to hang around longer; it was just that he had some work to do back at the hotel if they ever had a chance in hell of finding Angel.
"Yeah." Cordelia nodded at her friend. "We are fine, right Liam?" She asked the child in her arms who only scrunched up his face. Clearly, he was starting to get hungry.
"Alright then." Wesley nodded, opening the door. "I will see you later, Cordelia. Call if you need anything."
"I will." Cordelia nodded, watching Wesley shut the door behind him as she took a seat on the couch and lifted her shirt, undoing the nursing bra she was wearing and gently lifting Liam up to her breast to feed him. As he ate she studied his face more. He was four days old, and already his eyes seemed to be changing color. Perhaps they would be brown like hers and Angel's after all. She was not really sure where blue had come from anyway. On Connor, she assumed from Darla's side, but on Liam she was uncertain. No one in her family had blue eyes, and she didn't think anyone on Angel's would either. Not that she would know, his family was long dead, and not like she could ask him either.
Cordelia sighed, running he hand over Liam's face and leaning back into the couch, waiting for Connor to come home and trying anything to get her thoughts away from Angel, if only for a few minutes. She found this impossible, however, because every time she looked down at the child she was feeding she recognized another feature on Liam that only proved more that he was indeed Angel's son.
Angel moved in the shadows of the small hotel room he shared with Buffy. It had been a few days since Buffy had lied to Angel, but he had yet to confront her about it. He was too busy bustling around the hotel looking for Doyle, who he had not seen since the night Doyle had given a clue as to who he really was.
Buffy had not been overly friendly with Angel either, able to tell something was eating at the vampire.
Angel opened the small fridge in the corner of the room, pulling out a pint of blood to drink. He was hungry, and had spent all morning looking for Doyle, without any sign of his dead ex-seer.
"Hungry?" Buffy asked, from her spot on the bed.
"Yeah." Angel replied sampling, gulping down the blood and hoping his conversation with the slayer would end at that.
Buffy, however, was sick of the silence between them. "So are you going to tell me what the hell's been up with you or are you just going to keep brooding around here?"
Angel glared at Buffy. He was ready to tell her off, he was ready to tell her he knew she was a liar, and he wanted to know why. "You know what..." He began, but was cut off by the phone.
Buffy moved, and picked the phone up. "Hello…yeah…okay…thanks." She hung it up and turned to him. "That was the front desk. They said someone was downstairs to see you." Raising an eyebrow and wondering who had found the vampire with a soul. She prayed it was not anyone who knew the prophecy was false or that Cordelia was the mother of Angel's child. If it was, Buffy knew she had lost Angel forever.
Angel nodded. "Fine." He blew past her before she could say another word, and he raced down the stairs. He was sure the visitor was Doyle, who else would it be? He opened the door to the lobby and moved to the counter, almost bumping into a well dressed woman. "Sorry…" He apologized to her.
The woman turned to Angel with a smile that Angel swore he would never see again.
"Hello, Angel." Lilah grinned.
"Lilah?" Angel was surprised to see the lawyer but clenched his jaw. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Looking for you." Lilah smirked. "I just wanted to tell you something."
"What?" Angel asked, pondering if he should knock her out now or wait until no one could see him.
"We have her. We have Cordelia and Connor." Lilah lied to the vampire. This was the plan she, Gavin, and the Senior Partners had decided on in order to get Angel into Wolfram and Hart. They would lie about Cordelia and Connor's safety.
"What?" Angel growled, grabbing Lilah by the throat and not caring if any other guest could see him.
"I wouldn't do that." Lilah said, trying not to gasp for air. "You kill me and they both are as good as dead."
"Where are they?" Angel asked.
"Safe. For now." Lilah told him as she felt the hand around her neck loosen. "But I can't promise it will stay that way."
"What do you want?" Angel asked.
"For you to come with me." Lilah told him.
Angel didn't even need to think. He would do anything to ensure Cordelia and Connor, and now Cordelia's new child's safety. He nodded at Lilah. "Okay."
Lilah smiled, pointing to the black limo that was parked in the shade out front of the hotel. She then watched as Angel swiftly made his way to the car, avoiding the direct sunlight. She couldn't believe how easy it had been to convince the vampire that the people he loved were in danger and she couldn't believe how she had just brought Wolfram and Hart one step closer to releasing Angelus.
Cordelia had gotten Liam situated in a small baby carrier on her bed as she slowly went to work unpacking her bag from the hospital. Every once and awhile she would glance up at Liam to see her son watching her, but looking content enough. He was definitely a good baby. He had hardly cried since Cordelia had given birth to him and she was grateful for that.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Cordelia moved to Liam, taking him out of his carrier. "I wonder who that is. Maybe your big brother?" Cordelia cooed at the infant as she made her way to the front door, opening it to see Connor rushing in as fast as his toddler legs would carry him and Gunn and Fred both standing there with grocery bags in their hands.
"We figured you weren't going to get to go shopping anytime soon." Gunn held up the grocery bags as he took a step into Cordelia's apartment with Fred following him.
"Thank you guys." Cordelia gave Gunn a kiss on the cheek.
"So how is Liam?" Fred asked, glancing at the infant in Cordelia's arms.
"He's good. Just fed him." Cordelia smiled down at her son.
"Mommy!" Connor squealed, unable to hold his excitement back anymore as he wrapped his little arms around Cordelia's leg. He was so happy to see his mother and little brother. "Misses you." He looked up at her with his big blue eyes.
Cordelia's heart almost broke at the sight of Connor on her leg. "I missed you too, sweetie. Why don't you come sit down with Mommy and Liam, huh?"
Connor nodded, rushing over to the couch and climbing up it as Cordelia carefully made her way over, carrying Liam.
"Well, why don't we give you guys some family time?" Gunn offered, making his way to the door.
Cordelia smiled up at Fred and Gunn. "Thank you guys so much for keeping any eye on Connor the past few days."
"No problem, Cordy." Fred smiled at the mother. "You know he is a good boy."
Cordelia nodded. "Yeah."
"Okay, well…call us if you need anything." Gunn waved to Cordelia and led Fred out the door.
"So…" Cordelia looked over at Connor who was practically on top of her. "How was staying with Uncle Gunn and Aunt Fred?"
"Good." Connor nodded, looking over at Liam and pointing to the infant. "Liam." He could say his brother's name perfectly.
Cordelia nodded. "Yup, that's Liam." She gently stroked the infant's cheek, causing Liam's face to squish up.
Connor giggled at Liam's reaction to Cordelia's hand. "He no like that."
Cordelia laughed and then looked down at Connor. "So are you going to help Mommy take care of Liam since you're his big brother now?"
Connor puffed out his chest like a little man. "Yesss." He smiled, climbing up Cordelia's arm and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Love you."
Cordelia nodded, kissing Connor back. "Love you too."
That seemed to be enough for Connor, who was interested in getting back to his trucks that he had left behind when Cordelia went into labor. He hopped off the couch and moved to his toys, busily running the objects into each other and making crashing noises. Cordelia sat back in the couch, rocking Liam and watching Connor. She hated that regardless of which child she looked at she saw their father, but she was grateful to have these two little pieces of Angel, in case they were all she would ever have of him anymore.
Angel had been gone for close to two hours now and Buffy was starting to worry. She was afraid someone had found them and told Angel the truth about the prophecy and that he was really the father of Cordelia's child. Buffy sighed, finally having enough of looking at the four walls of the small hotel room. She jumped off the bed and made her way down the stairs to the main lobby.
When she arrived at the lobby, she found it empty, not even the manager at the desk.
"Weird…" Buffy mumbled to herself.
Her words startled someone in the back room, behind the desk because the little bellboy that seemed to annoy Angel so much stuck his head out. "Can I help…" His voice trailed off when he realized it was Buffy.
"The guy I am with. The one you like to bother. I am looking for him." Buffy said, not knowing the bellboy was actually Doyle in disguise.
"What? Did he get enough sense to leave ya?" Doyle did not dislike Buffy as a person, he just disliked how she had manipulated and wrecked every little chance Angel had of getting his family back.
"Have you seen him or not?" Buffy let Doyle's comment role right over her.
"No." Doyle said.
"Some help you are…" Buffy sighed, moving to the front door.
"You're not much help yourself, Slayer." Doyle said.
Buffy turned to the bellboy and realized he was a bellboy no more, now he was a short man with dark hair and a familiar face. Buffy recognized him from somewhere. "Who the hell are you?"
"Come on now, we've met before." Doyle reminded her of the time she came to Los Angeles to yell at Angel before he had given up his life to save the half-breeds.
"Well, you look familiar." Buffy narrowed her eyes, walking back over to Doyle. "But sometimes that's not a good thing with me."
"I was Angel's seer." Doyle folded his arms. He was already dead, the Slayer could not do much to him now. "Before Cordelia."
Buffy nodded slowly, remembering Doyle. "I thought you were dead."
"I am." Doyle said flatly. "I am back to help Angel, set him on his coarse, get him back to his son's and the woman he loves."
"He doesn't love Cordelia." Buffy said.
"That's where you're wrong." Doyle told her. "He loves the princess. And trust me, when he finds out she had his son…"
"She had it?" Buffy raised an eyebrow.
Doyle nodded. "She did. A healthy baby boy, and if I have anythin' to do with it, Angel is goin' to meet that boy."
"Doubtful." Buffy told Doyle. She was not about to lose Angel, not to Cordelia, not ever.
"You need to go." Doyle stepped toe-to-toe with the Slayer. "Now."
"You can't control me or what I do." Buffy stepped into Doyle.
"Oh yeah? Well little miss…" Before Doyle could finish his insult, he and Buffy found themselves in the grate abyss of nothing that Doyle had visited frequently.
"Where the hell am I now?" Buffy whined.
"Silence Slayer." The First Powers voice bellowed.
Doyle snickered, only to be cut off by the Third Power.
"You as well!" The Third Power Said to Doyle.
"Who the hell are you?" Buffy was not about to be told what to do by some high and mighty voices.
"We are the Powers That Be." The Second Power said.
"We hold the mission." The Third Power said.
"We grant the prophecies." The First Power finished.
Buffy raised an eyebrow as if asking Doyle if it were true. He only nodded at the Slayer.
"We have brought you here for a task." The Second Power said.
"One you shall work together on." The First Power added.
Doyle looked at Buffy. "Like hell I am workin' with her!"
"Same." Buffy crossed her arms over her chest, eyeing Doyle up and deciding she could take him if she had to.
"Silence!" The First Power bellowed again.
"The Champion is in danger." The Third Power started.
"Who? Angel?" Doyle seemed to panic.
"The vampire has been deceived by a lie." The Second Power said.
"No crap…" Doyle mumbled. Everything about the situation Angel was in was a lie.
"The evil has taken him…" The Third Power said.
"For they want Angelus." The First Power explained.
"Who does? Who wants Angelus?" It was Buffy's turn to panic.
Doyle, however, already had the answer. "Wolfram and Hart."
"It is true." The Third Power said.
"You must save the Champion now." The Second Power told them.
"Then the Slayer must leave." The First Power said.
"What? No…" Buffy started but was cut off by the Second Power.
"The Champions heart is no longer yours. It belongs to the seer." The Second Power said.
"And the seer returns hers." The First Power added.
"So we save Angel and he gets to go back to Cordelia?" Doyle asked.
"In a sense." The First Power said.
"What do you mean?" Doyle asked.
"The Champion has still not suffered, but we did not anticipate Angelus." The Third Power explained.
"We shall release the Champion and give him his reward as long as the beast is defeated." The Second Power told them.
"The Beast?" Doyle asked. "You mean Angelus?"
"You shall see…" The First Power said.
"No! No cryptic crap!" Doyle was annoyed now.
"Save the Champion." The Second Power told them, and then before Buffy and Doyle knew it they were back in the hotel lobby.
Doyle looked at Buffy. "Crap. This could be bad."
Buffy nodded. "We need to find Angel."
"At least we can agree on something." Doyle said, leading Buffy out the door of the hotel.
Wesley sighed from his spot at the counter as he saw Fred and Gunn enter the lobby of the Hyperion Hotel. Lorne had come back from the club a few minutes ago and was in the kitchen making himself a sea breeze.
"You look excited." Gunn commented sarcastically.
"How was Cordelia?" Lorne asked, entering the lobby.
"She seemed okay." Fred told them. "She seemed happy to have Liam home."
Wesley nodded. "She had said in the car she couldn't wait to get him in the house and all situated."
"Make sense." Gunn nodded. "I mean, those two boys are her life now, at least until we get Angel back."
"That's why I look so excited." Wesley said.
Gunn raised an eyebrow, leaning his elbows on the counter. "What do you mean?"
"We're not going to find him." Wesley stated.
"What?" Fred was startled by what Wesley had said. "Why would you say that Wes? We will find him. We have to!"
"But we won't." Wesley stated again. "I thought I had him, I thought I knew where he was. I had an informant over in Ireland who could have sworn he had seen Angel here and there."
"And you didn't tell us?" Lorne was shocked.
"I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up." Wesley explained. "But my informant got killed and anything he was getting at is lost."
"Yeah, but if we think Angel is in Ireland, maybe we can find him." Fred said.
"It took us over eight months to get that he may be in Ireland. Even then I am not certain. Maybe he just doesn't want to be found." Wesley said.
"Because he doesn't know that he isn't a danger to anyone." Gunn pressed.
"Buffy has been missing just as long." Wesley sighed. "She must have found him, and he must be content."
"So what? Now we just give up? Is that it?" Gunn asked.
"I think we need to refocus." Wesley told them. "Cordelia, Connor, and Liam are our top priority now. I don't think we should give up, but I think we should stop living in a fantasy world that he is going to come back. I think we need to be ready to live a life without Angel in it. It's all we can do for Cordelia's sake. We can't keep her false hope alive, it's not healthy for her. She can't live in the past when she has so much to live for now."
Everyone in the room was silent when Wesley finished and no one was making eye contact with anyone. None of them wanted to admit that maybe Wesley had a point. Maybe Angel really was lost to them.
Angel grumbled, his head feeling like he had drank enough beer for his lifetime, and that was a long life time. He moved to bring his hand to his throbbing forehead, but his arm wouldn't move. He looked to see his hands were chained to the wall behind him. Angel panicked, pulling at the chains and looking around to see his was in some sort of laboratory.
"What the…" Angel started, trying to think back to the last thing he remembered. Suddenly he yanked hard on the chains. "Damn it! Lilah!" Angel growled, remembering he had run into the lawyer before he had somehow ended up wherever he was.
Angel glanced around, having a better feeling where he was as his thoughts became more clear. He was definitely in one of the Wolfram and Hart office of Ireland, again.
Suddenly, the lights in the lab went brighter and Lilah seemed to appear out of nowhere. "Hello, Angel."
"You're a bitch." Angel growled.
"It's what I strive on." Lilah said as she felt Gavin move to her side.
"Gavin!" Angel was even more pissed now.
"Watch the tone, Angel." Gavin smirked. "Wouldn't want to piss anyone off who has access to your precious Cordelia or Connor…"
"You leave them alone!" Angel yanked hard on the chains, trying to rip them from the wall.
"We will…as long as you corporate." Lilah said calmly.
"What the hell do you want?" Angel said after a minute of silence. He lowered his head, as if ready to accept his fate.
"You know what we want." Gavin told him.
Angel looked up at the two lawyers, not saying a word.
"We want Angelus." Lilah told him. "We get him, and Cordelia, Connor, and the new baby go unharmed into the night."
"I let you have him and he will destroy them. He will find them and rip them apart because they are all that matters to me." Angel said, no emotion in his voice. "I can't let you do that."
"We will have complete control over Angelus. He will do nothing we are unaware of." Lilah told him. "Don't you think the Senior Partner's have waited for this moment?"
"I can't trust a word you say." Angel told them. "For all I know Cordelia is already dead." He did not want to think like that, but he was dealing with Wolfram and Hart.
"As much as a manipulative bitch as I am, have I ever actually lied to you, Angel?" Lilah questioned, although she knew she had, right now. She was lying to him about Cordelia and Connor and the new child completely, she honestly had no idea where they were nor did she care, as long as Angel thought they were in danger.
Angel thought for a minute. As twisted as it sounded, Lilah was right. She never had actually lied to him in the past. After a minute he looked up. "I can't just give my soul up."
"It's a hard decision, we know." Lilah told him. "We will give you a week to decide."
Before Angel could say another word, Lilah and Gavin had shut the lights down in the lab and left Angel to himself in a dimly lit corner with only the one decision he had to make on his mind.