Part Two

'I know it feels strange,' Angel said, 'but if an attacker comes at you from behind, you want to be able to shift all your weight immediately to your other foot, so you can spin and kick - here try it.' He carefully positioned Cordelia - and then grabbed hold of her from behind. She transferred the balance of her weight and pivoted around, shooting her leg out so it would hit the vampire squarely in the chest. It was very gracefully done - and would have landed a forceful blow… but Angel used his enhanced reflexes to grab her leg and stop her foot from connecting with his torso. Then he grabbed her around the waist to prevent her from falling.

He just held her like that, for a moment. She was giggling, as the rush of spinning so fast - and then nearly tumbling - made her head go all funny. And he just felt her closeness and her warmth… and longed to draw her in closer. Instead, he took a firm hold of his senses, and put her foot back on the floor and steadied her. 'We'll keep working on it,' he told her, 'but I think that's enough for today.'

'Yeah - if we keep going - I'll have to ice every bone in my body,' she told him, 'I'm out.' She limped back up the stairs, and Angel stayed down in the basement - trying to get a lid on his emotions before he went back up to the team.

Cordelia crossed through the lobby, and ducked behind the counter to where Doyle was working. She wrapped her arms around him from behind and kissed him on the temple, 'how goes the research into the end of the world?'

'2 Day passes to Disneyland are about $80.'

'I think we can afford that.'

'Well we're not goin' to need long term savin's in the event of an apocalypse. We can even go nuts and stay in a Disney hotel.'

'Now that is living dangerously!' she laughed. She glanced at the other woman, who was still seated at the counter, 'Hey, Fred,'

'Hey - you guys are going to Disneyland?'

'If we can get a day off before the apocalypse starts… two days of true love and happily ever afters,' she kissed Doyle's temple again, squeezing him tighter as she spoke, 'followed up by horrifying bloodshed and death.'

'Sounds… nice,' Fred smiled weakly.

'That's what we thought,' Cordelia grinned. 'I'm just popping in the shower,' she told her boyfriend, kissing him one last time. 'I'll be back in ten - OK?'

...

The front door opened, just as Cordelia left the lobby and climbed the stairs to Doyle's room, and Wesley and Gunn returned - victorious. Wesley's face lit up when he saw Fred already in the lobby, 'Ah - Fred - excellent - I was hoping you would be able to help us with the Nyazian scrolls - there's some complicated maths involved.'

'I took a look at it on the way over here,' Gunn grinned at her, 'was gibberish to me - needs the expertise of our resident girl genius.'

Fred grinned with pleasure, and blushed bright pink, looking down at her feet in embarrassment. Doyle watched the three of them… but didn't say anything.

By the time Cordelia came back down from her shower, Angel had joined the rest of the team in the lobby. Fred was busy working away at some frightening looking equations, and Wesley was buried deep in his transcribing. The other three men were not doing very much at all. 'Well that can't be right,' Fred said, wrinkling her nose up in confusion, 'unless the world ended last March.'

'My world nearly ended last March,' Cordelia said, as she went to go and pour herself some coffee, 'but fortunately circumstances were averted.'

'Did Angel save you?'

'Not, Angel - no,' Doyle answered, instead. 'Angel wasn't very much help at all, if I remember correctly.' The vampire looked guilty, as Cordelia nodded along in agreement with her boyfriend.

'So are we talking armageddon - or bad house number?' Gunn asked the watcher, sitting down in front of him, 'is it a bad event or a bad guy?'

'I'm not sure,' Wesley frowned. 'It isn't clear. It predicts the arrival or arising of the Tro-Clon, the person or being that brings about the ruination of mankind… except ruination might mean purification. It depends on the language you translate from. In ga-shundi it even means both.'

'And we've already been there and done that for that mistake,' Cordelia grinned.

'Yeah, bud, I think we've misread enough prophecies to last us a lifetime - we wanna get this one right,' Doyle added.

Angel still said nothing. He just sat on the round sofa, all by himself - and watched Cordelia. Eventually, she noticed his staring and went over to sit by him. 'So you going all psycho stalker on me or what?' she asked him.

'Huh?'

'The staring - it was getting creepy.'

'Oh - uh..' he wriggled uncomfortably, unsure of what to say. She smiled at him, in sympathy and put a hand on his knee. 'Is it because you love me?' she asked.

'What?' he sounded horrified.

'Because, you know I feel the same way, right? I love you, Angel.'

'What? Why? When did this happen?'

'Well - we've been friends for a long time - these sorts of feelings just develop naturally. It was bound to happen.' She squeezed his knee, and smiled her thousand kilowatt smile at him.

He was still floundering. 'What about Doyle?'

Her smile dimmed, a little, and she looked confused. 'Well, he loves you too - obviously.'

'Ummm,' it was like there was an earthquake going on under his feet. The ground was moving beneath him and he had no place of security to stand.

'And he loves Wes and Gunn and Fred. As do I. As do you.' She squeezed his knee again. 'I know it's scary - this whole end of the world thing. But this stuff needs saying. I love you Angel, you're my best friend and I wouldn't be without you.'

'Oh right - of course,' he forced a chuckle, 'friends… I knew that.'

...

'OK this makes more sense,' Fred's voice cut through their conversation. 'If these calculations are correct, then the bad thing should already be here…' everyone glanced around the lobby - and noted the lack of danger. 'Well… I guess not right here,' she amended, 'but here in L.A.'

...

'Do you really mean that - that you wouldn't be without me?' Angel asked Cordelia.

'I wouldn't have said it otherwise. We're friends - we've seen the best and the worst of each other - we know each other. And for what it's worth - the good I've seen in you totally outweighs the bad.'

'You too,' he mumbled, 'thanks.' Now the sheer bewilderment of her proclamation of love had left him, he was beginning to feel the first tinges of disappointment. He wanted her to take her hand off his knee - for something - anything - to get in the way of the intimacy of this moment. It was too painful.

But she didn't get that. She couldn't. She didn't know his true feelings. So she just patted his leg and smiled at him again. 'What are friends for?' she asked.

'If you ask me, they're for knocking you up and leaving you high and dry,' a voice interrupted. The whole team looked towards the disturbance. Darla stood by the door - massively pregnant and cradling her bump. She looked straight at Angel. 'Hello lover, long time no see.'

'Darla!' Angel stared up at his sire in disbelief. The rest of the team stared at her, likewise. 'Darla?' Wesley was as incredulous as Angel was - especially when he took in the significance of her swollen belly.

'Well - when did this happen?' The vampire scrambled to his feet, looking panicked. Cordelia and Doyle glanced across at each other. Cordy quirked an eyebrow at her boyfriend - but rather than smirk back at her, Doyle dropped his eyes and stared down at his shoes. Cordelia frowned.

'You know exactly when this happened,' Darla said, coming down the stairs - stroking her bump.

'This is impossible,' Angel said.

'Tell me about it - Daddy.'

...

Unnoticed by the two vampires, and most of the team - Doyle turned and walked out of the lobby, heading into Wes' office. Cordelia noticed him go, though, and frowned again… but she was far too interested in the unfolding drama to bail out and go speak to him, now. Whyever he'd taken himself off - she'd catch up with him later. Right now she wanted to focus on Angel… and Darla.

...

'Vampires can't have children,' Angel said 'right, Wesley?' The watcher agreed that the situation was impossible. But that was no comfort to Darla. Angel knew this was impossible - she knew this was impossible - and yet here they were.

'I wonder if this might not be that bad thing we were expecting?' Fred mused. Not the words a pregnant mother wants to hear. 'What have you done to me?' Darla snarled at Angel, striking him across the face with her fist. He stumbled backwards and fell against the weapons cabinet.

Inside Wes' office, Doyle heard the crash as the vampire hit the glass, and looked up from the tumbler of scotch he had poured himself. After a moment - when he heard no more sounds of violence - he shrugged and tossed the drink back.

'Hey!' Cordelia positioned herself between the two vampires, 'stop that!'

'It's OK,' Angel said to her, righting himself, 'I'm OK.'

'Not you - you had that coming, buster… Darla - you shouldn't get yourself upset in your condition, here…' she led the female vampire over to the round sofa, 'sit down. You shouldn't be on your feet. Do you want some water?'

Fred fetched the drink, and held it out. 'Hi! I'm Fred. Is water OK or would you like some blood?' Darla took the glass, and Wesley crossed the room to gently pull Fred away from the pregnant vampire. Cordelia stayed sat beside her. She looked at Angel - a challenge in her eyes. 'So what do you have to say for yourself?'

'Um…' he had nothing.

'OK… how are you going to make this better? What are you going to do?'

'What am I going to do? What can I do?'

'Oh - I think he's already done enough,' Darla said. Cordelia turned back to her, 'have you been to see a doctor?' The vampire gave her a disbelieving look - of course she hadn't visited a doctor. She had, however, visited every shaman and seer in the western hemisphere.

'And what did they say?' Wesley asked - sounding fascinated… and horrified.

'They don't what it is. They don't know what it means. Nothing like this has ever happened.'

'Maybe it's a hysterical pregnancy,' Angel suggested. Cordelia gave him a dark look.

'Wanna feel it kick?' Darla asked. It kicked like crazy. The father reckoned that kicking would be the first sign of … hysteria. This time, everyone gave him a dark look. 'You need to take responsibility,' Cordy told him.

'Me? ...right … um, Wes - let's get on this straight away.'

'What do you suggest we do?'

'Get your books - look stuff up - jeez do I have to think of everything around here?' He was sounding irate, but no one was on his side. The watcher picked up the nearest book and flicked it open. 'Oh yes, here it is,' he said. Darla leaned forward on the sofa, Angel hurried over to get a closer look at the page. But it was in vain. 'I have absolutely no idea what is going on,' Wesley pretended to read - and snapped the book shut. 'Maybe we should go speak to the Host?'

'Doyle?' Cordelia pushed the office door open and stepped inside, 'what's…' she came to a halt and stopped talking, as her eyes fell on the bottle of scotch and the glass. The Irishman looked up at her, and then followed her gaze - looking at the bottle, himself. 'Don't… Cordy, just... don't,' he said to her.

'Don't mention your taking yourself off to have a solo liquor binge… in the middle of a crisis - um, let me think about that - no.'

'Just not now - OK. We'll talk later. You can bust my chops later. Just leave it for now… please?' He looked back up at her, meeting her eyes with his own. They were swimming in pain, bleeding hurt - so much so that she took a step back, and bit her lip. She nodded. 'Whatever this is… you tell me later, OK?' she said, 'I wanna make this better… I'm going to make this better… but, we're headed off to Caritas - hoping that the Host can lay some clarity on Angel's baby drama.'

Doyle closed his eyes and inhaled.

'...anyway,' his girlfriend continued, looking even more disconcerted, 'you should probably come. This is… this is big. Fred thinks this could be the bad thing she sees in the math. You're Angel's seer - his link to The Powers. If his kid is gonna … I don't know… end mankind, or whatever - he's gonna need you.'

'Right - Angel's gonna need me. So I'll be there for him,' he slung back the last of his scotch and heaved himself out of the chair - slamming the tumbler down on the desk, 'because I'm always there when he needs me.'

He was surprised when, as he reached the door, Cordelia wrapped her arms around him. 'You're always there when I need you, too,' she murmured, and kissed him, 'because you are a wonderful human being.'

'Half human being,' he muttered.

'Whatever,' she kissed him again, and then pulled back so she could look into his eyes. 'I love you.'

'I thought you were mad at me for drinkin'?'

'I am … but I still love you.'

She kept her arm wrapped around him, as they walked back into the lobby - where Angel was still panicking.

'Oh no - this is all kinds of wrong.' Lorne stared at the painting the two people were holding up. It was hideous - he didn't want that … thing on the wall of his baby. 'Try it on the back wall…' he suggested, 'far away from where people might be eating.' The artwork was carried away to be hidden, and the green skinned demon turned to where the transuding furies were chanting.

'Violence abounds, violence restrain. This place a sanctuary was and shall be again.'

'That's great girls,' he smiled - and then he frowned as he looked at the bill his contractor had just handed him. 'Arnie - why are you charging me twelve hundred over the estimate here?'

The contractor straightened up and turned to face him. 'Had to run a separate two twelve to the security box. Double insulation everywhere in the building. Plus, we had a run on Kek bile and bin-der glands. And you know what you said:' Arnie's eyes suddenly went blank and began to glow - when he spoke it was a recording of Lorne's own voice, 'This club's my baby. I want top drawer throughout.'

But the Host was cut off from arguing back, by Angel's voice floating through the doorway, 'Lorne - you here? You gotta help me. We got,' he glanced back at all the others coming down the stairs, 'kind of a situation here.'

'Mmm Angel,' the transuding furies, becoming aware of the vampire's presence, sighed in ecstasy at the sight of him. Doyle stared at them - not that they condescended to notice him. 'They're always like this,' Cordelia whispered to her boyfriend, 'it's beyond gross.' She raised her voice, 'you girls are on the pill, I hope,' she said to the furies.

'Mmm,' moaned the furies, once more.

'Yuck,' Cordelia shook her head, and watched Angel drag Lorne away from the group a little, and demand to know what the three sisters were doing there. The Host explained they were recasting the sanctuary spell that Cordelia had asked them to break the night of the massacre - only this time it would cover humans as well as demons. Lorne wasn't making the same mistake twice!

'I'm opening up the club again,' he told the vampire, 'I know I was pretty blue for a while there - if it had gone on any longer, I'd have turned aquamarine!' he was the only one who laughed. 'So what happened here?' he asked, looking at Darla.

'What does it look like?' Darla asked him.

'Angel boned her,' Cordy explained.

'Yep, it turns out Angel - the vampire - can get girls pregnant… which is just - great.' The Irishman's voice was bitter, and Cordy cast him yet another worried glance. 'Oh,' she breathed, understanding what his problem was, at last. Angel turned to look at her - wondering what was going on, but was interrupted by Fred before he could say anything. 'Is Angel gonna sing?' the woman asked.

'Oh, man,' Gunn groaned. But Wesley agreed that there didn't seem to be any other way. Cordelia shook her head, though, 'she's the one carrying the baby,' she said - pointing at Darla.

Darla leaned forward and grabbed the Host by the lapels, 'Oh Danny Boy,' she grunted, rather than sang, but the Host cut her off. They were way past singing! He turned to all the people working to put the club back together and told them to go home for the evening. Then he focused back on Darla and began to scrutinise her. But he wasn't sure what he could do; this was way beyond his ken… and his barbie … and all his action figures. 'If it's alive…' he started to say.

'Oh it's alive,' the pregnant vampire assured him, 'and kicking.'

'It could be anything…' Lorne shook his head, 'a child born of two vampires…'

'Maybe it's some kind of uber vamp?' Gunn suggested.

'What? You mean like vampire concentrate?' Doyle asked, the thought seemed to perk him up a little. Cordelia frowned again. Wesley told the Host about the Nyazian prophecies and their mentioning of the Tro-Clon, which was supposed to be in Los Angeles right around now. 'Born out of darkness to bring darkness,' Lorne nodded.

'Great,' Angel sounded aggrieved, 'so we're saying my kid is the scourge of mankind?'

'Makes sense when y' think about it,' Doyle told him, 'you were the scourge of Europe… what else could it be?' Angel looked even more annoyed. Darla began to groan. 'OK, we're upsetting the pregnant lady,' Cordelia cut in, 'maybe she should lie down?'

'She can have my room,' the Host ushered Cordelia and Darla through the club to the back. After a moment, Doyle followed along behind them. Lorne opened the door that led to his bedroom and showed them inside. Darla was groaning the whole way. 'Maybe we should call a doctor?' Cordelia wondered, but the vampire dropped down on the bed and told her the pain would pass - it always did. The other woman nodded, and turned to the green demon whose place they were crashing, 'I'll stay with her.' The Host nodded and left, telling the women he'd be right outside.

Cordelia then fixed her gaze on her boyfriend, who was lurking uncomfortably in the corner, 'are you going back to Angel?' she asked him. But he shook his head, he didn't want to be around Angel right now - and he didn't like the idea of leaving Cordelia alone with a vampire, even one groaning in pain.