Buffy woke up screaming her husband's name.
The gang snapped to alert, Giles coming to his Slayer's aid.
"Buffy, are you alright? Did you have a prophetic dream?" He asked, concerned and mildly hungry for action.
She glanced around and paled. "We were played." she stated, standing from the chair she had fallen asleep in and grabbing her coat off the back.
"About what?" Xander asked startled.
"Drusilla has no intention of opening the Hellmouth." She explained, grabbing the car keys for both vehicles.
"But...what about the Lunar Mirror? The equinox? Apocalypse?" Willow questioned.
"It's a decoy, she wanted us out of the way." She said quickly, pounding on the door to the room Spike and Faith were 'sleeping' in.
"Whoa, what's going on Buff?" Xander demanded as Buffy handed Oz the keys to Angel's car and Giles the keys to their SUV.
"She set a trap for Angel!" She practically shouted, scared her dream was happening now...or already did.
"But he's not even here...oh..." Xander began, then suddenly realized they were all in Cleveland, leaving him injured and unprotected back home. "That would explain why we couldn't find her here in Cleveland...Crazy Vamp is at Angel Investigations stalking her sire."
"Will, send me back, right now." Buffy demanded, voice heavy with terror for her family.
"Ok, let just grab the ingredients." The Wicca supplied, as she worked to put together the teleportation spell.
"Everyone else, drive back." Buffy ordered as she paced, slayer energy flaring at a maximum. When they all stood watching her she expressed, "Now! That bitch is going to kill my family!" She snapped from fear.
They suddenly understood her reaction and began gathering their belongings.
"Are you sure Buffy?" Giles had to ask. Trusting his Slayer but knowing if this was a diversion the Hellmouth would be left unguarded.
"Yes, I'm sure." She urged. The image if her murdered children still fresh in her mind.
Giles nodded, "Perhaps it would be wise to have Faith and Spike remain here, just in case this is a diversion."
Buffy nodded quickly, half listen, half freaking, "Fine, but Drusilla isn't here, she's going after Angel."
"In that case, the poof's already dead...or soon will be." Spike chimed in, mildly intrigued by the idea or his sire taking a bite out of her sire.
If looks could kill, the glare Buffy sent Spike would have combusted him on the spot.
"Right, I'm going to check out the Hellmouth...it's safer." The vampire announced, needed space from the suddenly very 'Carrie' like look the slayer threw at him.
"Will!" Buffy expressed, aggravated why she wasn't at Angel Inc. already.
"I'm trying Buffy, but...I'm being blocked." The witched admitted, looking remorseful. "I can't get you in the building."
"Then get me as close as you can!" she snapped. Getting close to absolutely terrified.
"This is as good as I can do, I'm sorry." She apologized and the Slayer vanished.
Giles grabbed the keys to the GTX and tossed the SUV keys to Faith. "We're heading back now, guard the Hellmouth until tomorrow night as a precaution."
The dark haired slayer nodded and pocketed the keys. "Sure thing."
With that said, Giles drove Angel's beloved convertible back towards home in the fading light with Xander sitting shotgun and Willow and Oz camped in the back. Giles knew Angel would be highly appreciative that he hadn't lent his ride to Spike, that is if Angel was even alive.
As they sped down the road Willow pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed, after ten rings, Angel still didn't answer his cell.
Hanging up she tried another number, on the third ring Connor answered. "Hello?"
"Connor, listen to me." Willow explained what she knew.
Minutes later she was calling Dawn's phone as Connor raced to the office to find his father before the insane vampiress could.
...
Buffy swore when she materialized nearly a mile from the office.
"Damn it!" She yelled in frustration and flat out ran, saving the breath she would have used for the rest of her swear words for running.
...
Earlier that day:
Angel awoke late in the morning to little fingers poking at his face. His eyes, nose and mouth all probed as Katie expressed her boredom and desire for daddy to wake.
"And what did mommy teach you about sticking fingers in noses?" He mumbled as he woke.
"Yucky!" Katie expressed, making the kind a scrunched up face Buffy often made when encountering a particularly messy diaper.
"That's right." He encouraged, "So, no picking daddy's nose. It's not nice."
She giggled and at that moment Angel realized what Buffy had foreseen. He couldn't get out of bed and he had two small children in his care.
He could see Katie growing border by the second.
'Oh crap.' he thought, looking around and not seeing anything baby related; no toys, no diapers, no finger foods.
'Ah-ah!' He cheered in his head as he grabbed the remote for the small TV hanging from the ceiling. Clicking it on he found a cartoon station and held his breath that Katie would watch.
Her bright brown eyes focused on the screen and remained there, almost fascinated with it.
They only had one TV at home, and it was rarely on except for hockey games, the news, and the occasional movie.
For Katie watching cartoons was a treat and she happily settle to watch the cat chase the mouse all across the house.
Angel couldn't stop his gaze from wondering to the show too. 'Damn, this is for kids? It's so violent...a mouse just gave a cat a stick of dynamite...that can't be leaving a good impression on Katie.' Although without much else to chose from, he was stuck with it for now.
When Liam woke not long after, Angel took advantage of his free arms and grabbed his cell phone that Connor had left within reach. He eyed it a few minutes, then the clock. It was nearly 11am by now, so he wasn't too afraid of waking anyone...but he felt like calling for help was a weakness. He looked down at the kids again and realized after a whiff of some very undesirable diaper smell, he needed a hand...preferably one attached to a pair of functioning legs.
He dialed Dawn's number, figuring she was closest.
As soon as he hung up, Katie looked up at him and said, "Go potty?"
They had just started teaching Katie about using the potty and she latched right on to the independence idea of it. She was known for being ahead of her age bracket in just about everything, and her fiercely independent streak just inspired her to learn things faster.
"Uhh..." He gaped, looking for a means to get her to the potty...there was no telling a nearly two year old to hold it and telling her to just go in her diaper would just mess up the whole point of potty training.
Just then an answer to his prayers, Dr. Cassidy sauntered into the Med-Ward. "Well, well, what do we have here...the boss still in bed? I'll have to use chains for often." She teased, knowing nine times out of ten he fled the hospital part of the building long before she cleared him to go.
His eyes narrowed, glaring hatefully at the metal clasps attached to his cast which elevated his leg to help reduce swelling and fluid build up around the injury.
"Ha ha." he replied mirthlessly. "Katie needs to use the potty." He pointed out, indicating the squirming tot in his lap.
"Oh, well let's go take care of that." She replied, taking her from Angel.
"No, Daddy!" She cried, pointing out she wanted him to take her.
"I can't honey, daddy has an ouch, I need to stay here." He explained, by now she had a pretty good idea what the word 'ouch' meant.
"Go potty?" She asked looking at Cass.
"Yes, lets go do that." She replied, taking the little girl to the bathroom.
...
When they got back, Katie had an excited smile.
"Yay! Go potty!" She danced, jumping up and down on the bed as her father held her.
"That's my big girl." Angel grinned, kissing her cheek.
Liam smiled from his dad's lap, laughing because his sister was.
Angel turned his eyes from the kids and met Cassidy's grey orbs, "Can't stay like this Cass, I have obligations. I need to be able to move."
She grinned, "Hmm, I have an idea."
The glint in her smile made him worry.
...
When Dawn arrived twenty minutes later she encountered Angel rolling crooked down the hallway, Katie and Liam held in his lap with one arm as the other tried to operate a wheelchair rather poorly. His bound leg was stuck straight out and the scowl on his face betrayed the irritation of the situation with screaming clarity.
"Pretty sure you get further using two hands." Dawn commented to get his attention, biting back a grin at seeing him trying to wheel one sided.
"Well if this thing came standard with child safety seats I could be using two hands. Except it doesn't, and I'd rather not see one of my kids face-plant while I can't get up to help them" He grumbled, not mad at Dawn, just letting off steam in general about being broken and cripple.
She wordlessly walked up behind the chair and pushed him along towards the elevator. "So, where we going?" She asked as pushed the call button.
"Offices." He muttered. There was a nursery space between Buffy and Angel's office for when they had the kids at work with them. It had two cribs, a changing station, rocking chair, toys, etc...all the amenities of a normal nursery.
"Whoa, which one dropped the bomb." Dawn gasped, smelling a very unhappy diaper. "Unless...when did you last bathe?" She added in jest.
"Barrel of laughs today." He rolled his eyes.
Liam and Katie turned to look up at their aunt, both greeting her in their own way.
"Hey my little munchkins. Did you make daddy grumpy, or did he wake up that way?" She asked the tots.
Angel just shook his head. 'I wonder if I have any scotch hidden in my desk?' he wondered idly.
...
Angel and Dawn each took a tot, changing and feeding them. Once they were clean, fed and ready for mischief, they spent a few hours just interacting and playing with them.
Liam was constantly looking around for his mom, Angel knew he wanted Buffy. 'Me too, Buddy.' He thought, hoping his wife was ok and wondering how the search for Drusilla was coming along. He fumbled in his pocket for his cell to give them a call but discovered he must have left it in the Med-Ward.
He shrugged and figured no news was good news, if something important came up they couldn't reach him on the cell, they could just call the office phone.
As the day progressed, Dawn noticed Angel's agitation dissolving as he interacted with his children. It was hard to brood and worry with Katie smiling and laughing along with her little brother.
Neither of the adults noticed when the phone lines went down, or when an anti-magic barrier erected around the building and surrounding area.
Liam began yawning around 3pm, triggering Dawn to bring him into the nursery for a nap while Angel entertained Katie in his office.
Angel was just finishing reading his daughter a story when he felt a chill run up his spine, the only indication he'd had all day something was wrong.
"And they all got eaten...and unlived happily ever after." Drusilla finished as she waltzed into the room, looking like a cat ready to pounce.
His dark eyes widened, "Drusilla." He greeted coldly. The second he saw her, he realized this was her plan all along. The Hellmouth was a decoy, he was the duck. With a miserable thought he realized he really was a sitting duck while stuck in this damn wheelchair with a broken leg.
He instinctively wrapped an arm protectively around Katie, the other hand tightening on the book he held. It was just an ordinary book, hardcover, nothing new or special in any way...but it was all he had by means of a weapon.
"Is she why you don't play with me anymore Daddy? You have a new family now...you don't need your old one anymore?" She spat, looking hatefully at the toddler Angel was trying in vein to shield. The both knew Drusilla could smell Katie's scent, knew the scent was a mix of Angel and Buffy.
"What do you want Dru?" He asked her, both curious to what her agenda here was and to buy time.
To his surprise, she didn't say a word, no absurd comments about things no one else could see, no nonsense about the stars or whispers or music. No, none of that. Instead she screamed and charged him like a maddened bull, with much the same result.
Angel barley had time to curl around Katie to protect her as Drusilla rammed into him, toppling over the wheelchair. He had to roll across the floor to absorb the shock from the force of the blow. His mostly healed shoulder taking the brunt of the blow and re-injuring it.
Seeing stars from the sharp pain that laced threw his leg and shoulder, Angel managed to push a now screaming-from-fright Katie behind his desk for a rather meager but limited options available protection as he staggered to right himself and to face his attacker. Standing in a cast was difficult when the floor was spinning and you couldn't bend your knee.
Drusilla was on him before he made it that far.
His fists caught a few lucky shots, but his left shoulder was throbbing and he couldn't put weight on his right leg without a blindingly sharp pain rushing up his spine like a knife. As a bonus, he had no stake or weapon of any kind.
His daughter's cries fueled him to fight back as hard as he could. He was currently the only defense she had, and by god, he'd need to be cold and dead before he let Drusilla lay one finger on her.
Drusilla crumbled as he sent a powerful blow into her gut, as her knees buckled he jabbed his elbow into her nose, shattering it with a spray of blood.
The crazy vampriss raged out at her distorted nose, swiping Angel's legs from under him and sending him crashing to the ground.
They both took a second to gather themselves, backing up and rising to their feet.
Drusilla glared at him, enraged at Angelus's betrayal, but a smile quickly replaced the scowl as she remembered she'd get her daddy back soon enough. With that thought in mind, she attacked again. She knew knew Angelus's body intimately, knew how he moved and thought. She used that knowledge with deadly accuracy, targeting his weak zones and his injuries.
Angel saw her coming and braced for impact, blocking a punch and went to strike another, but Dru had the power of mobility on her side.
The dark haired vampire twisted out of the range of his blow, simultaneously pulling a handful of powder from a pouch on her hip. The same as she did with Buffy in the warehouse in Cleavland, she waiting until Angel was close, then blew the dust into his face.
Angel reared back, seeing her repeat the trick she did to Buffy yesterday. He purposefully exhaled to keep the fine dust from entering his lungs, but he couldn't stop it from suddenly blinded him as the powder impacted his eyes.
Taking advantage of his temporary blindness, she swung around him, wrapping on long slender but strong arm tightly around his neck from behind, effectively trapping him and strangling him if he moved.
"What do...you want...Dru?" He struggled out, his own hands tugging at her's to let some oxygen enter and exit his lungs.
"You." She cooed in his ear, licking his cheek for emphasis.
His gut turned at the thought of being with her again. He resisted but to no avail, she had his weakened shoulder twisted painfully behind his back.
"Never." he forced out, the gears in his head running furiously on how to get Katie away from his insane sired.
He was about to ram his good elbow into her gut, hopefully to dislodge her and get some leverage, but she didn't give his a chance.
Drusilla vamped, her cat-like yellow eyes tracing the sharp features of Angel's face. "I'll have you, we'll be a family again, I promise...my new baby daddy." she promised as she sunk her fangs into his throat.
He gasped, the pain blending with all the rest but the sensation of being fed upon, that was new. For the first time in his life, he actually felt afraid of a vampire, the realization that he had a beating heart meant he could be food.
The lightheadedness washed over him, she was taking too much, too fast for his muscles and brain to communicate properly.
When she'd drank her fill, she sliced a neat trail across her breast. "Drink for mummy." She coaxed, pushing Angel's mouth to the oozing wound.
His eyes were glazed from acute blood loss, his limp muscles and mind in no condition to resist.
The demon in him cried out for blood, so when she offered, he took it.
...
"My what pretty eyes you have my little lamb." Drusilla sang to the nearly two year old in her lap, the little girl with the very same eyes as her daddy. "I bet they'll taste like mulberries. My mummy liked mulberries..."
"Daddy!" Katie cried, feeling very afraid of the scary woman holding her and not seeing her father.
"Hush, don't wake our daddy, he needs his rest so he doesn't wake all cranky. Oh, I know, you can be my new Miss. Edith. The last one was very naughty, she didn't get to have cake ever again." The dark vampire spoke, petting Katie like a cat.
"Let her go." A voice call from behind her.
Turning Drusilla smiled, "Such a pretty green light, it shimmers and dances...like a flame, I like flames. They burn so painfully, can you hear the music as they scream?" She swayed, holding a crying Katie against her chest.
Dawn was at a loss for to to respond. 'Oh god, this is Drusilla isn't it? I thought she was in Cleveland!' She thought quickly, having never actually seen the crazy vampiress in person nor had she received Willow's call, her phone was sitting on her nightstand where she forgot to grab it while rushing out to get to Angel Investigations at Angel's call.
"She's in you, the pixies in my head told me so." Drusilla sobered, looking over Dawn with hungry eyes. "The slayer...her blood sired you...blood and magicks...I feel it tingling in my toes. I want a taste, just a little one...I promise I'll not spoil my appetite for dinner." She dropped Katie on the loveseat in Angel's office as she passed, the little girl forgotten for now as she sailed on Dawn's magical high.
"Oh, umm...you don't want to eat me, trust me...I'm no good." Dawn retreated back, trying to think of a spell or move to get her and Katie out of this. 'Where the hell is Angel?' She wondered, afraid something happened to her brother-in-law. She had heard a thump from down the hall and came to see if Angel maybe had fallen while trying to do something he shouldn't try doing with a broken leg. However what she had found was a stranger holding her freaked out niece. Right about know she was really cursing herself for not keeping a stake on her persons at all times.
"Just a wee snack is all." Dru said advancing.
"You asked for it." Dawn lashed out with a move Connor taught her, fully intending to kick the vampire in the face, maybe break a fang or two.
Except her leg was caught mid-blow and she was yanked forwards, the dark mad eyes of Drusilla staring right into hers.
"Vozdukh, Priyevratis v Kulak!" Dawn yelled, the spell Willow taught her to send a literal 'fist of air' hurling towards a target.
Nothing happened, Drusilla simply smiled.
"Enemies, fly and fall... Circling arms raise a wall!" She quickly switched tactics, trying to erect a force field to push the mad vampire away.
Again Dawn was struck dumb by the lack of response from the spells. 'What?! These work! I know they work!' She panicked.
"Like my necklace?" Drusilla asked, showing off a gaudy black pendent with a large red stone in the center. "It doesn't like magicks, make em run scared...like little lambs it does."
'She's wearing anti-magic jewelry?' She thought, making a weak attempt to grab the pendent and smash it, but Drusilla yanked her forwards and glared deeply into her blue eyes.
"Look into my eyes." The vampiress suggested as she swayed, her fingers gliding back and forth. "Look at me, Dawnie. Be in my eyes. Be in me."
Dawn felt her body lax under the effect of Drusilla's hypnosis, her wide blue eyes getting lost in those dark, depth-less orbs.
Sinking...falling...fading...
However the control worked both ways, Dru was so focused on Dawn, she hadn't see Connor sneaking in behind her.
"Back off she-bitch." Conner yelled as he body slammed into the crazed vampires head, knocking her down and freeing Dawn. In his haste, he was really wishing he'd grabbed a stake.
Dru flew back from the force of the blow, but rolled to her feet. "You hurt me." She growled, but then her face softened and she smiled, "Do it again?"
"With pleasure." Connor confirmed, stepping protectively in front of Dawn as she shook off the magic and went to grab her screaming niece from the couch.
As Connor fought with Drusilla, Dawn fled the room to grab Liam from his crib and get the kids someplace safe, someplace a vampire couldn't go. She hated retreating, leaving Connor to fight alone, but the kids were in greater danger. Connor could fight, he was supernatural and once known as 'The Destroyer'. Katie and Liam were babies, and Dawn knew if anything happened to them, neither Angel or Buffy would ever forgive her.
And neither would she.
So she ran for the stairs, heading down to the Slayer-in-training dorms, knowing the magic that protected a house from vampires without an invitation would work there too.
She really wished some seasoned slayers were currently on site, the newbies stationed here now would only be canon fodder to a vampire as old and powerful as Drusilla.
...
Connor found himself flung clear across the room, smashing into Angel's desk and shattering the old wooden table.
'Oh crap, dad loved this desk...he's gonna kill me.' he thought briefly, looking around for a decent size piece to use as a stake.
As his eyes scanned the area frantically, that's when he spotted Angel.
"Dad?" He questioned, seeing his father's form lying motionless and pale, having been hidden from sight behind the now smashed desk.
He didn't have time to check if his father was alive or not before Drusilla grabbed him and yanked him up.
"It's not possible...but here you are...seven in all...daddy's a busy boy." She grinned madly, seeing things she couldn't possibly know.
"Shut up already!" Conner yelled and kicked out at her.
She shook off the blow, angry and wanting this fight to end so she could return to her regularly scheduled massacre.
"Have a nice flight." She grinned to him like a overly chipper flight attendant before throwing the boy across the room and threw the office door.
Connor sailed into the office lobby and rammed into the elevator, denting the metal and collapsing in a heap beside it.
"Such a pretty noise the bones make as they snap, makes me want to dance." She cooed out, swaying.
"Dance to this." Buffy fumed as she punched the mad vampire that just knocked her step-son out.
Drusilla spun away, holding a hand to her already swelling jaw.
"Such rage, it's rather pretty...how it boils and turns...like holy water on the skin." She rambled, sizing up the panting-from-running and enraged slayer as they walked around one another.
"Where's Angel?" Buffy gritted out, not immediately seeing him.
"Shh, he's sleeping." Dru scolded, a finger raised to her lips as she glanced towards the windows.
Buffy turned her head to look, her heart seizing in her chest as her dream replayed. Angel's corpse lying motionless, his too pale face, blank eyes staring sightlessly towards the ceiling. She didn't see Katie or Liam's bodies, but her son of the heart was bleeding a few feet away.
Before she could tear her eyes from Angel, Drusilla attacked, catching the slayer off guard.
"You took them from me! Took both my black knights! Made then shine of silver and gold...but I've taken one back...the other will follow. We'll be a family again, the stars told me so." Drusilla ranted as she rained blows down on Buffy, the maddened vampire unleashing her raw and bottled emotions in a swirl of deadly force.
Buffy shut her eyes, visions of her husband being drained by the demon, seeing the corpse from her dream assaulting her senses.
Drusilla grinned madly down at Buffy trapped beneath her, "He was sweet, my daddy, tasted like clover he did...and honey. Made my belly all full."
Buffy's eyes snapped open, pure slayer blazing in her. There was no witty comeback or play on words, Buffy saw red.
She lashed out, knocking the grinning vampire off of her and across the floor, fully planning to rip her apart piece by piece.
"Oh Dru honey, what have I taught you about playing with daddy's toys?"
Drusilla spun at the words, turning to see if it could be true. "Daddy?" She asked, voiced chocked full of longing.
Buffy froze, her hazel green eyes widened, hearing a cold tone on her husband's voice, a tone she remembered vividly from her High school junior years. 'Angelus' she thought irrationally. She knew he couldn't be...but the paleness in his cheeks, the cold smirk, the predatory stance...
"Come here Dru." Angelus called, opening his arms for her.
He stood leaning/sitting against the back of the small loveseat, his demon eyes drinking her in.
"You've come back to me!" she cheered, slowly getting up and walking towards him like as if in a dream.
He grinned at her, a cold glint in his golden eyes.
"I've looked for so long, all alone I was. The stars won't shine anymore. They've lost their light. It's like someone blew a breath and the candles all went out. " She confessed quietly.
"Hush now." He said, enfolding her in him arms and holding her tight when she neared enough.
She looked up at him, madness shinning in her eyes. "Daddy, will you turn the lights back on? it's awfully dark and I can't see Ms. Edith anymore. I can't see anything...I bump into the walls...it stings it does. But now my black knight has come back, the stars will shine again, they'll twinkle red."
He looked down at her, he knew that madness was caused by him, by torturing an innocent young woman until her mind was forfeit. That he drove her crazy then set eternal life upon her, locking her away in a unending hell.
She was his greatest work of art.
He leaned down and captured her lips with his, plunging his tongue into her cool mouth and exploring, tasting.
She sighed against him, purposefully nicking her tongue on his fangs and giving herself to him freely.
Her daddy was back.
From the floor Buffy gasped, her heart cracking and splintering at the atrocity of her husband's actions.
"I will Dru, I will." He promised her as he broke the kiss and soothed her long dark hair with his right hand. "I can send you back to the light. Do you want to go back?" he asked, searching her mad eyes.
Her eyes widened, a flash of excitement settled in her dark sockets. "Oh, yes daddy, I want to see the light again. All the colors, the pretty, pretty colors. Shaded of red...so many shades of red. We'll be the whirlwind again, you and me and Spike...we'll rule the stars."
"You will." He promised her.
"Really?" She asked childlike in her tone, eyes the size of saucers like a kid on Christmas morning.
"Never could say no to you, Dru." Fangs curled back into deadly grin. He leaned forwards, those fangs under an inch from her lips. "Are you ready?"
She nodded a small smile tugging her lips, "Oh yes, Daddy."
Before he lost his will again, he quickly stuck the stake he held hidden into her heart.
Drusilla went ridged for a moment, and then a full smile brightened her face, "They're so bright." She whispered, seeing the lights he had promised her dancing across her eyes, and then her body crumpled to ashes.
His eyes squeezed tightly shut, a single tear dropped down his cheek. "Rest in peace Elisabeth Marie." He whispered, saying the name her mother gave to her instead of the one he created for her rebirth.
The stake dropped from his numb fingers, his leg throbbed horribly under the cast, the twin wounds in his neck burning, and his gut turned in violent spams.
His stomach recoiled at the blood Drusilla had forced down his throat, the dead lifeless blood of a vampire was no use for his body. He'd hoped at the time it would feed him, that the blood would heal him...but the minute it left his veins and entered her, it was tainted. It was poison to his system now, and his body was rejecting it with brutal force.
He spun, using the couch for support as he retched painfully. The indigestible blood made a grotesque reappearance as it splattered the once light blue carpet.
He righted, unconsciously wiping at his mouth with the back of his sleeve.
He felt like a boat suddenly, a small vessel lost in a storm. Tossing and turning as the angry water surged beneath him. A moment later, his demon shuttered in pain, loosing strength with the rest of his body. As his features shifted back to human, he thought he heard Buffy calling his name. However, before he could turn, the boat in his mind was bludgeoned with a monster wave, and the little vessel capsized.
...
Angel turned towards her, but the second her eyes met his, she knew he wasn't seeing at her. They were too glazed to be perceiving reality, and as a testament to her thoughts, a second later he crumpled like a puppet with its string cut.
"Angel!" she cried, rushing to him as he dropped, too far to break his fall.
With a tentative hand she reached for his neck, seeing the bite wound but needed confirmation if he was still alive or now re-undead.
What she felt under her fingers was by no means a reassuring beat. He had a pulse, if one could indeed call the weak and irregular thumps beneath her fingers a pulse. She felt his chest rise in fall with short, shallow breaths, his lungs drawing in no where near enough oxygen to keep a man of his build alive and well.
Before Buffy could even think about what to do, Cassidy ran into the room, closely followed by Dawn.
"Buffy!" Her sister cried in joy that she was alive as she nearly slammed into her. One of the slayers-in-training had mentioned they'd seen the eldest slayer tear threw the building at super sonic speed and Dawn had called the good doctor in to help with the wounded.
"Katie? Liam?" Buffy demanded, one eye searching the room, the other trained on her husband.
"Safe." Dawn emphasized to ease the fear induced pressure.
Buffy sighed in relief, however her relief was very short lived.
Cassidy barely had her finger to Angel's neck for three seconds before she dug into her medical bag and pulled out a long thick needle.
Buffy's eyes bulged in horror as Cass slammed the needle directly into Angel's heart like it was a a buzzer for a game show.
"What the hell are you doing!" She yelped as Cass removed the needle and felt Angel's pulse again.
"Well considering his heart was giving out, I'll say I'm saving his ass. Now if you don't mind, he needs to get to the Med-Ward before he's beyond help." She answered hurriedly.
Cassidy and Buffy rushed off with Angel's limp form propped up between them as Dawn helped a recently conscious Connor up and away from the elevator. As they rushed Angel to the Med-ward, Dawn forced Connor to sit a moment as she assessed him for a concussion.
...
Cassidy kicked the doors to the Med-Ward open as her and Buffy hauled a deathly pale Angel in and lifted him up onto the the exam table. She hooked up the oxygen and heart monitor just in time to be hit by an alarm.
"Shit." She cursed, rushing to grab the blood bags and IV needles.
"What happened?" Buffy panicked, a brick the size of Texas materializing in her gut.
"Cardiac arrest." Cassidy answered, torn between trying to resuscitate him or installing the IV.
The doctor knew trying to get Angel's heart beating again with so low blood volume left in his body was the equivalent to trying to start a car with no gas in it...not gunna happen. However, she also knew without any blood circulating to convey oxygen, brain death resulted in under 5 minutes.
"Quickly." She told Buffy, "Start chest compressions, keep what little blood he had moving." She ordered as she fixed the blood to the IV tubing.
Buffy gaped like a dead fish for a second, "Wh-what?" she stuttered, looking lost.
"Sure, take your time. It's not like he can get any deader." Cass snapped to goad Buffy into moving. Although she knew for a fact he could get 'deader'...he could very quickly fall into the 'not salvageable' category.
The blond woman's eyes widened and she jumped up on the table within a second, straddling his waist and positioning over his chest. Once in place, her mind blanked on her, flash-backing to one of the worst day of her life, the day she found her mother dead on their couch. She had tried to resuscitate her, and failed miserably.
"What if I break a rib?" She asked, looking nervous and uncertain and above all scared.
"Won't matter if his heart isn't beating." Cass countered as she inserted the needle into his arm.
Buffy began compressions, barely aware of her surroundings and only focusing on one thing; '1,2,3,4,5...'
"Compress the chest down at least two inches for thirty beats then give two breaths." The doctor instructed as she finished hooking up the first line and started another of fluids to help increase blood volume.
Buffy felt Angel's cool clammy skin beneath her hands, he was sheet white. That was all the motivation she needed.
"Dad!" Connor gasped when he and and Dawn made it to the Med-Ward. Seeing Buffy performing CPR on his father hit him like a truck. "Oh god, he's dead, she killed him." The young man whispered in shock, Dawn grabbing him and helping hold him up as his legs threatened to buckle.
Cassidy injected another smaller dose of adrenaline into the IV line, hoping the drug would help stimulate his heart again.
"Ok, blood is going in." she stated, checking everything over.
Four minutes after Angel's heart stopped, nothing had changed.
"Ok Angel, anytime you want to stop being dead will be great." The doctor mumbled in frustration.
Since the initial flat-line, the only indications showing on the monitor had come from Buffy's motions.
Buffy leaned down and blew another lungful of air into him. "Please, please." She begged his stubborn heart.
The monitor bleeped.
"Hold on." Cass halted the slayer, watching the weak flutter strengthen after a moment.
The body lying on the table suddenly inhaled, chest constricting and coughing as breath returned in shaky spasms.
"Angel?" Buffy asked, tears in her eyes as she leaned down over him.
Angel's eyes suddenly opened, but they weren't a warm chocolate brown, but demonic yellow and screaming hunger.
Buffy hadn't time to smile at her husband before he'd grabbed her and with a feral growl sank his fangs into her throat.
His demonic side reacted instinctively to the closeness of fresh, warm, human blood. Drusilla's vampire blood had poisoned it, weakened it...but Buffy's potent blood washed the tainted swill away. He gulped it down greedily, his body screaming for it, demanding replacement for what he lost.
"Son of a..." Cass yelped as she tried to pry Angel off of Buffy, cursing herself for forgetting his demon side had a tendency to bite first, ask questions later when his life was in the balance. 'Reminder, buy Angel a muzzle.'
Grabbing a blood bag, she tried to wedged it into Angel's mouth as a lure away from the Slayer. She didn't know Slayer blood out tasted any blood a vampire would ever drink and a bag of ordinary human blood was like waving a a bone to a dog as he ate a steak. Under normal conditions, yeah, the dog would go for the bone...but while eating a prime piece of meat? No way in hell.
Buffy felt her instincts kicking in, before she could stop herself, her fist impacted Angel's jaw, hard.
The force broke the bite hold on Buffy and Cassidy shoved the bag between his sharp teeth as Buffy shoved him down to keep him from biting again.
Weak as he was, it wasn't hard to keep him pinned against the table. His demon side eagerly draining the bag of blood that appeared in his mouth.
When the bag was empty, he spit the plastic from his mouth and opened his eyes again. He glanced around drunkenly, as if gaining awareness for the first time.
Cass had grabbed a wad of gauze and taped it over Buffy's new puncture wounds. Over the same scar he always seemed to reopen on the right side base of her neck.
His golden eyes focused on his wife, still straddling his waist from when she'd been performing CPR.
"I'm sorry." he whispered, then his eyes shifted back to brown as he went slack.
"Angel!" She panicked when he went limp beneath her.
Cassidy quickly check him over, signalling to Buffy he was stable, just physically too exhausted to remain conscious.
Connor, who had been watching wide eyed from the corner slowly stepped forwards, still supported by Dawn. "Is he...?"
"He's alive." Cassidy assured the boy as Buffy slid off the table and sat in a nearby chair. Her mind filtered in the events of the past ten minutes and counteracted the rapid blood loss. He hadn't taken enough for her to need a transfusion, but enough for her to feel lightheaded and wobbly.
"Dawn, keep an eye on them a moment, Connor here needs some sutures and a shard of wood extracted from his shoulder." The doctor asked the young woman as she man handled a still dazed Connor towards the other room where the equipment was located.
Dawn nodded, standing next to Buffy and yanking her sister into a comforting hug.
Buffy held on tightly, her mind reeling still. 'He died.' Popped into her head as a sob broke out. 'He DIED!' repeated, louder, with more force. Her eyes focused on Angel from behind Dawn's back as she gripped her sister for support. Needing the reassurance he wasn't still dead, her hazel green orbs watched the spikes peak across the heart monitor and his chest rise and fall as he breathed steadily in and out.
"How are the kids?" she asked her sister, pushing her wanting to have a breakdown into the back of her mind, staying strong and saving it for later when they all left and she was alone with her husband.
"Jackie is watching them, I'll go get them?" Dawn answered, figuring her sister needed the comfort of her children at the moment.
Buffy nodded gave her a weak smile, "Please?"
"Back in a minute." The younger Summers replied as she went to retrieve the two little ones from the Slayer-in-Training who sometimes babysat while Buffy, Angel and the gang were busy at work.
When Dawn left, Buffy wandered over to stand by Angel's bedside. Her brow furrowed in confusion as a new bruise was visible on is jaw. She winced when she realized it was caused when her "slay" instincts kicked in from his bite, she'd punched him hard to stop him from feeding off her.
She leaned down, not worried in the slightest he'd attack again, and placed a light kiss over the bruise. "I'm sorry." She whispered to him, curbing her desire to just crawl into the bed with him and not let go for at least the next 12 hours.
Dawn re-entered the Med-Ward, this time with her arms full of two very unhappy babies.
"Little help?" She urged as Katie and Liam squirmed in her grip.
"Mommy!" They chorused together, each reaching out their little hands for her.
Buffy quickly relieved her sister of the two small burdens, both children's cries instantly ceasing when they saw their mother.
"My little monsters driving aunty Dawn crazy?" she gushed, kissing them both and holding them tight.
"Daddy sleeping?" Katie asked, looking over Buffy's shoulder at Angel lying in the bed behind them.
A sting tugged at Buffy's heart, "Yeah honey, daddy's sleeping." She gently lied, knowing the nearly two year old wouldn't understand the concept of being unconscious.
...
Thirty minutes after they left, Connor and Cass returned.
Connor's left shoulder was bandaged, his arm in a sling from a slight dislocation from impacting the metal elevator doors. A butterfly band-aid over his left eye was the only indication of a slight concussion. His body was stiff and his face pale and taunt from the events of the last hour.
"Are you ok?" Dawn asked, coming to stand next to him as he looked over at his father lying prone in the bed.
"Yeah." He nodded. "I'll be healed by tomorrow night." He brushed off, his eyes moving to Buffy sitting in the chair beside the bed, his siblings dozing in her arms as she watched over Angel.
"He'll be ok." Dawn soothed, rubbing Connor's back.
The young man nodded slowly, "Yeah." He said quietly, not yet over the shock of seeing his father's lifeless body.
"Go sit with him." She urged, seeing his blue eyes locked on his dad.
He didn't need much more convincing.
He sat in the chair beside Buffy, "Are you ok?" He asked, worried about his step-mom.
She shook her head, when Angel was injured, she was never ok.
He took his good arm and wrapped it around her shoulder.
She leaned against him, both of them taking comfort from the other.
...
Soon after the Scooby gang filled in, having just arrived from Cleveland.
The group mingled together, talking and putting together their individual pieces of the puzzle.
"Damn, I should have gotten here sooner, I could have helped dad fight that bitch." Connor chastised himself as he paced, feeling responsible for his father nearly dying.
"It's not your fault, besides, you got here in time to save me." Dawn tried to cheer him up.
"And what exactly did you think you were doing going up against Drusilla? I should ground you until your 30." Buffy scolded her sister.
"Fine, next time a crazy vampire is about to eat my niece I'll just stand by and watch." The younger Summered countered.
"She was going to what?" Buffy cried, grabbing Katie from Xander and holding her closer in horror.
"So, how did it feel to finally take out that wacko?" Xander asked, hoping talking about slaying Drusilla would cheer Buffy up.
"I didn't, Angel did." She replied, glancing at the still form on the bed behind her.
"So let me get this straight" Willow chimed in, "Drusilla drained Angel, then went after Katie. When Dawn interfered she discovered Drusilla was wearing a magic-absorbing necklace that nulled her spells..and was why I couldn't teleport you into the building" She side noted the last thought to Buffy, "Then Connor saved Dawn but got thrown headfirst into the elevator for his efforts. Buffy went all Slayer on the crazy vamp but Angel killed her by tricking her into thinking he was Angelus again?" She asked in summery.
They nodded.
"So one question." Xander added, "If Dru got Angel first, why didn't she just kill him?" he asked reasonably.
At Buffy and Connor's glare he emphasized, "Well if the crazy vampire's plan was to kill Angel all along...she did a pretty bad job considering all the work she put into misleading us to the Hellmouth..." He clarified, not wanting Angel to have died, but not understanding Drusilla's logic.
"That's because her goal wasn't to kill me, but sire me."
They all turned to see Angel had awakened and apparently been listening quietly for some time.
"Sire you?" Giles asked, interested how a living vampire could be re-sired.
Buffy handed Katie to Willow so she could sit with Angel.
The couple shared a brief kiss and Angel sat up and turned his attention to Giles to answer the question.
"She was lonely. Drusilla wanted to remake the old days, she thought turning me back into Angelus would make that happen." He supplied.
"Well it a good thing she screwed it up." Xander joked to lighten the mood.
"She didn't screw up, she did everything right." Angel said quietly.
Buffy looked over at him questionably, he obviously wasn't a full vampire, he was alive. Nor could he be Angelus, his soul and demon couldn't be divided again. "What do you mean?" she asked, worried.
He grinned slightly, amused at the absurdity of it. "When a vampire sires someone, blood loss isn't the cause of death."
Giles perked up again, you could practically see him taking Watcher notes in his head.
"The siring vampire takes enough to slow the heart, then feeds the victim their blood, which conveys the essence of the demon into the new host. The essence takes over the original blood supply as it still pumps, chemically altering the blood and in turn the body to be a suitable home for the gestating demon. The heart stops when the merger is complete, killing the human, forcing out the soul and imprinting the personality traits of the former person. All this happens within minutes. The fledgling vampire usually remains dormant as the body finishes changing...rising after nightfall or burial." The former vampire explained.
"Fascinating." Giles muttered, having found a piece of paper and pen at some point during Angel's explanation and was writing furiously.
"But that didn't happen with you." Dawn noted.
"No, it couldn't, not again anyways. Only because I already have a demon essence in me...and it wasn't very happy to have company." The living vampire replied.
"Oh, like when your demon fought Eyghon!" Willow chirped excitedly. She thought back to when Jenny was possessed and Angel took the demon into himself to destroy it. She consciously didn't mention the name Jenny with Giles standing beside her.
Angel nodded, "Exactly like that, just without the facial distortion."
"So what happened to it, the invading demon?" Xander asked.
"My demon destroyed it. Although after fighting it and Drusilla, it was too weak to heal me. I know it's still here, but I can't access it."
"So as I suspected, your demonic preternatural regeneration ceased, leaving your full human system inadequate to function with extreme hypovolemia, resulting in cardiac arrest." Cassidy stated as she adjusted Angel's IV lines.
"Yeah Cass, my demon power failed, I died from blood loss." Angel rephrased in simple english.
"But your demon will be back right?" Buffy asked, unconsciously fingering the gauze on her neck from his bite. Her friends tried not to notice.
"Yeah, the blood partly healed it, but as of right now, it's absent. It's weak and will need time to recover. Until then, I'll have to deal with it being dormant." Angel admitted, hating the weakness he felt without his vampiric abilities.
"So you're completely 100% human? No Grr factor?" Xander asked.
"Until it regenerates...yeah, I guess I am." Angel shrugged, then winced as his left shoulder twinged pain.
Buffy could see the exhaustion clearly written on her husband's face, and now knowing he didn't have a supernatural edge in healing made her worry. "Ok guys, it's getting past the kids bedtime. Xander, can you and Dawn grab the cribs from the nursery?"
"For what?" Angel asked her.
"We're staying here tonight." She met his suspicions, in a tone that clearly said, 'not arguing about this.'
"I'm fine to go home." he countered anyways.
"Access denied. Angel you're human right now, with a broken leg, sprained shoulder and I'll remind you if you forgot, just had a cardiac episode. You're sure as hell not leaving that bed." His doctor ordered from beside him.
Buffy nodded her agreement. "Cass is right, so help me I'll let her drug you to keep you here."
Angel crossed his arms over his chest and sulked like a kid being told to eat his vegetables.
While Angel brooded, Buffy thanked the gang for their help and hugged Willow for calling Connor.
The act very likely saving both Dawn and Katie's lives.
...
When the kids were settled for the night and she was finally alone with her husband, she crawled into the bed with him and wrapped her arms tightly around his chest. She needed the reassurance of his heart beating beneath her ear after feeling it absent.
His arms wrapped around her and they laid together for a while, just absorbing the comfort of one another.
...
TBC