Disclaimer: I do not own Buffyverse or anything else you may recognize

Thank you to everyone who has favorited, followed or reviewed this fic so far.

And finally, we begin with Season 3. Out of the first 3 Seasons, this is my most favorite Angel Season, reasons being- it's the most Cangel heavy, it has one main plot which works and is emotional as well, and the characters get a lot of growth. Plus, it also has my favorite lineup of Team Angel- Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Lorne, Fred and Gunn. But the Season 3 finale is my least favorite in the whole Buffyverse, even if the emotional parts worked perfectly.

Overall though, this is my 2nd favorite Angel Season behind Season 5 and 5th favorite Buffyverse Season as well.

So I hope all enjoy the reactions to this, as stuff is eventually gonna get more and more dark and depressing.

Chapter 57- Heartthrob

Next day, the past people all had a shower after waking up, then had breakfast with their future selves, and were then back on the couch to watch the next set of recordings, now starting Year 3 of the adventures of Angel and his team.

"Let's begin Year 3", Buffy said as she turned the recording on.

At Hyperion in day, Fred peeked around the corner of the corridor overlooking the lobby, then heard Cordelia's voice and quickly disappeared again. Cordelia was ranting about how she didn't understand Demon worshippers, and Gunn agreed, though he didn't know the species correctly so Wesley had to correct it, who also explained they had to be a little obsessed with Demons as it was part of their job.

"Yes, we all need to be a little obsessed", Giles agreed with Wesley. "If we're not, we wouldn't know how to beat them."

"Right there with you", Willow agreed.

After some talking, Gunn asked if they'd talked to Fred and Cordelia said she'd only glimpsed her sometimes when she poked her head out of the room. Wesley found her nice and Cordelia agreed but pointed out her hibernation problem, Wesley knowing she was attached to Angel who'd gone away, and Gunn agreed, adding it was because he'd saved her from Pylea.

"Yes, he saved her, he was the first good thing she had in years", Tara explained to them all. "So she's attached."

"Can't really blame her", Xander said in agreement, understanding her situation.

Cordelia said she missed Pylea to which Wesley pointed out she'd been Princess in a week while Fred had struggled for 5 years. Gunn said she was strong but Cordelia pointed out she was trading one cave for another, and then they wondered when Angel was returning. Gunn was about to mention Buffy but she stopped him so he just said the 'B' word. Gunn said it'd take more than a vacation in Sri Lanka, since 'B' word was the love of his life, but Wesley pointed out it was a spiritual retreat, to which Gunn said he should have gone to Vegas instead, but Wesley said he didn't need a lap dance, rather peace and quiet.

"So, I'm Voldemort now?" Buffy wondered.

"Looks like it", Dawn told her.

"3 months in a monastery", Buffy then muttered, thinking. Her death would have really hit him hard. Even if they were over each other romantically, they did care about each other.

At Sri Lanka, in a monastery hall, Angel was wearing a white robe and battling red robed monks with a stick. He whacked them around and was beaten back too as one made him fall but he flipped him into a wooden pillar with a stick, breaking it. Then he lifted himself up and kicked one away before doing a back flip onto a balcony, and threw another down, the fight continuing.

"That doesn't look like peace and quiet", Buffy said lamely as they all groaned.

"But it does look cool", Dawn said about the back flip.

"Can't even grieve properly", Willow sighed sadly.

The big double doors of the monastery opened. Angel stepped out to find some men wearing gray waiting outside. The man asked in Tibetan. "What happened?" Angel answered in Tibetan. "Demon monks. I should've gone to Vegas." The man cocked his head as Angel walked past, then looked in through the open doors to see at least ten red robbed bodies littering the floor.

"Okay, if they're in Sri Lanka, why are they speaking Tibetan?" Xander asked, and that raised eyebrows. [1]

"Huh, good point", Tara agreed with him.

"Even I cannot answer this", Giles muttered.

Cordelia walked into the Hyperion with 2 big mousetraps, and it was clear both Wesley and Gunn were afraid of rats, to her amusement, so she walked to the basement door but then dropped the traps with a scream as the door opened and Angel stood on the other side with a smile. And then she gave him a hug. "You're back."

"He's back", Buffy smiled too, happy to see him and his team together again.

"Look how happy she looks", Dawn said about Cordelia.

Cordelia pulled Angel into the lobby where he shared hugs with Wesley and Gunn too. Cordelia hoped the retreat had been peaceful but Angel revealed about the Shur-hod Demons as Gunn reminded him of Vegas, and he agreed, and after a little comment by Cordelia, Angel decided to give them gifts- Cordelia first got a skull-like head before he gave it to Gunn instead while Cordelia got a necklace, which she found gorgeous and put around her neck, and Wesley got a 16th century dagger of the Murshan Dynasty, that he'd always wanted.

"Murshan Dynasty, I've wanted one of those too", Giles said, sounding a little jealous.

"Join his team and wait for him to return from a holiday", Buffy joked as he sighed and the rest chuckled.

"She got a nice necklace", Willow said about Cordelia. "It doesn't look cheap."

"Well, they're trying", Tara said with a smile.

Angel asked about Fred and found out she wasn't coming out of her room, so he decided to check up on her, then walked up the stairs as Gunn thanked him for the head and Wesley said he seemed better than he left, Cordelia agreeing.

"I haven't seen him before he left but yeah, I think he's better now", Dawn agreed. "Maybe the fighting did help."

"Looks like it did", Buffy nodded, though it was clear to her he was still in pain over her, just hiding it.

Fred was adding the words 'listen' to the walls in her room, and the walls were scribbled over already. Then she jumped and rambled at the knock on the door before hearing Angel's voice so she took off her glasses and ran to open the door, and eventually after some rambling she invited him in as he looked at the writing on the walls.

"Cordy was right, Fred has traded one cave for another", Tara said sadly. "The trauma of all she went through is still controlling her actions."

"But Angel is here now, she was attached to him", Xander reminded.

"I know he can help her out", Willow said with a smile, since Fred was perfectly normal when they had met.

Angel apologized for leaving though she didn't mind, and he assured her he was sticking around. Angel then asked what she was listening for to which she said she was waiting for the click when all came together. He asked what she'd do if she ran out of wall space before getting the click, and she didn't know, and Angel assured he understood what she'd gone through, but she was home now, and could come out of the room.

"Angel knows better than almost anyone", Buffy said, looking down as she remembered sending him to the Hell Dimension. While doing that still gave her guilt, she would do it again if it was to save the world.

Fred started writing again but Angel gently took the marker from her and said she didn't need to write everything down, asking her to take some small steps and hang with them for a while. There was nothing to be scared of and she was safe in the hotel. Then Cordelia was heard screaming from downstairs so he told her to hold that thought.

"Cordy", Xander gulped in realization. "A vision!"

"I hate the Powers, they give Cordy pain, and now they did it just when Angel was reaching through to Fred", Dawn muttered angrily.

Angel hurried down as Cordelia was on the ground from the painful vision, and Wesley and Gunn arrived too as they supported her into a sitting position, and there was a flash to her vision as she said a bunch of Vampires were killing people at a party, giving them the whole location and also said the blonde was the worst, plus they were taking hostages. Angel asked if she was fine and she said she was, telling him to go. Angel rushed after the others while Cordelia collapsed on one of the papers she had dropped, sobbing from the pain.

Dawn had a hand over her mouth over Cordelia's condition while Buffy's eyes were wide in horror, and Xander was looking pissed at the Powers, with Willow and Tara having sad, sympathetic looks, and Giles looked very grim too, and taking off his glasses, actually wiped his eyes a once before putting them back on.

No one passed a comment.

Angel, Wesley and Gunn entered the room littered with bodies, where Gunn found a flyer which told to invite everyone. Some were still alive so Wesley called an ambulance. Angel walked to the open window and saw where the Vamps were headed, telling the other two to take the car while he morphed into Vamp face, jumped out the window and ran over rooftops.

"Bunch of Vamps", Buffy muttered with a groan.

Four vampires were sitting in a convertible, whooping as they drove down the street. A blond boy sat between the blonde vampire Cordelia had mentioned and the driver, his dark haired girlfriend sat between the two vamps in the back. The blonde Vampire called Elisabeth taunted the boy over his love for his girlfriend, asking who to kill among them, and after a long moment he asked to take her, Elisabeth scoffing if that was what he called love. The girl in the back screamed as Angel dropped down onto the hood of the car and grabbed the wheel, swerving the car off the street into a building. Wesley and Gunn brought Angel's convertible to a squealing stop behind it, and jumped out, grabbing some weapons from the backseat. Angel jumped off the hood, slugged the Vamp sitting beside the girl then pulled the boy and his girlfriend up and lifted them out of the car, telling them to run.

"At least the kids are saved", Willow said. "But these Vamps don't look like they're gonna leave without a fight."

Elisabeth slugged Angel and ran after the kids, only to find herself face to face with Wesley and Gunn. Elisabeth punched Gunn then turned back to hit Angel as he was beating up on two of the vamps while Wesley took on the third. Gunn hit one of the vampires, distracting its attention from Angel, then quickly staked it and threw the stake to Wesley, who caught it and used it to stake his vamp. Elisabeth kicked Angel before he could stake the third vamp who ran while Angel grabbed Elisabeth by the shirt, pulling her around to face him and staked her as well. Elisabeth stared at him. "Angelus?" Then she turned to dust. Angel looked down at the heart-shaped locket left in his hand from pulling her around.

"She knows him", Buffy said, eyes wide in realization. "When he was Angelus."

"Did he sire her as well?" Xander wondered.

"Could be, we don't know", Dawn shrugged.

"Or they just knew each other", Tara told them.

Cordelia stumbled into her dark bathroom, leaned and panted on the sink, then looked at the mirror as the door shut and the lights came on but she found them too bright so they turned off and a small table lamp came on. She thanked Dennis and opening the medicine cabinet took out a bottle of prescription pills. The stopper later dropped into the drain of the bathtub as the water came on, and she swallowed 3 pills while asking for hot water, and said the visions were killing her and getting worse every time. Cordelia stepped over to the tub filled with bubbles and took off her shirt. Her shirt dropped, then floated up to hang itself over a hook. Cordelia was sinking back into the bubbles with a sigh. A loofa brush floated up in front of her face and she leaned forward for him to brush her back. "Oh, Dennis, what'd I do without you?" A telephone rang, disappointing her.

"Pills", Willow noted with narrowed eyes. "Prescriptions pills."

"For her head", Buffy said in realization. "The visions, they…."

"They messed with her head", Xander scoffed. "Why didn't the Powers put on a safeguard or something?"

"You're assuming they care", Dawn told him, anger in her voice.

"She is strong", Tara said sadly. "Most others would give up by this point."

"She is a hero, you see", Giles told them the same thing he had told Ben before killing him, but this time he truly meant it, because Cordelia was a hero for bearing the painful visions.

In Marseilles, 1767, Elisabeth and James were dancing down the street followed by a more sober Angelus and Darla, and the older couple was amused by the younger one's love for each other. Angelus then reminded they had a ship to catch and Holtz would be coming. They argued for a while and James wanted to fight Holtz, because Angelus and Darla had lived to tell the tale, and that she'd fled the barn without him when Holtz had trapped them. Angelus confirmed it, and Darla said life was full of surprises, to which he said she was, and Darla remembered she'd paid for her sins when he'd caught up with her in Vienna.

Everyone had disgusted looks as they realized whatever Angelus had done to Darla, it wasn't consensual, but both had enjoyed it a lot, being soulless evil Vampires and all that.

"At least the mystery of what happened after Darla had left Angelus is solved", Xander quipped.

Angelus and Darla walked off while Elisabeth admired a pretty necklace in a shop window, and James said it wasn't as pretty as when it would be when worn by the prettiest of all, breaking the shop window and taking the locket as he said it and put it around her neck, Elisabeth saying she'd never take it off. They kissed when uniformed soldiers arrived, so James had Darla and Elisabeth run to the ship while he taunted the soldiers.

"Hot blooded and young", Giles noted. "And brash. He is looking for a fight."

"He's like Spike when he was evil, but even worse", Buffy agreed. "I despise Angelus but at least he had a brain."

"Which is what makes him so dangerous", Willow reminded, and no one could disagree.

Riders came galloping in, aiming crossbows as a guy with a beard and hat looked at them, Angelus dryly commenting he hoped she treasured the locket. Angel held the locket in present day as Gunn asked what had happened with Holtz but he said it was another story. Cordelia reminded that James and Elisabeth were in love, so if he was around and found out who killed her, it'd be bad. Angel said that was a long time ago but Cordelia pointed out she still wore the locket.

"Yeah, she still wears it", Dawn agreed. "Guess they were madly in love, unlike Angelus and Darla."

"Those two only lived for the joys of unlife", Xander quipped.

Wesley and Gunn decided to hit the streets and ask their sources, Cordelia quipping they had sources as Angel joked around with them. James and the escaped Vampire were watching from the shadows of a parking garage as Elisabeth's car was hooked up to a tow-truck. James knew it was Angelus, and the Vamp informed him of the soul. James was broken by Elisabeth's loss as the Vamp noted he wanted to be alone but he said he wanted to die and pushed the Vamp into a patch of sunlight, watching as the Vamp screamed and died.

"Looks like Cordy was right", Tara noted grimly. "He is out for blood now."

"But he said he wants to die", Dawn said, confused.

"First Angel's blood, then his own", Willow told her.

Angel was looking at the pictures of Elisabeth and James in the locket as he realized Cordelia wanted to talk to him and eventually she stepped closer to him, saying he didn't have to feel guilty for her death. He assumed she was talking of Elisabeth and said he didn't as he didn't even know her when he'd killed her, but then then he realized who she was speaking of. "She was the love of your life and she died." Angel sat down on the stairs, facing Cordelia, who stepped closer. "And - you weren't there when it happened." She sat down next to him with a sigh. "You couldn't help her fight. You couldn't save her. - You couldn't die with her."

"It's not your fault. It's no one's fault!" Buffy said. "I made that call, I chose to give up my life, it's no one else's fault. Definitely not yours, Angel. Or Spike's. Or Anya's."

She looked at the rest of them. "Or any of yours. I chose to give up my life. It's no one's fault."

"I know", Willow muttered. "But doesn't mean we don't blame ourselves."

"It was mine too", Dawn told her guiltily.

"No it wasn't", Buffy assured her, stroking her cheek. "I'd do it for you all over again, because I love you."

Dawn had a few tears in her eyes as Buffy hugged her lovingly.

Angel didn't answer as Cordelia said. "This is gonna be one of those talks where I do all the talking, isn't it?" She got up. "Well, I'm not gonna pry. It's not my style." She turned back to face him. "Okay, it's totally my style, but I can tell that I'm not getting anywhere right now. But you have to tell me one thing. You owe me this much. What the hell happened with Holtz?"

"Yeah, that sounds like an interesting story", Xander muttered.

Holtz and his men surrounded Angelus and James in the flashback as Holtz asked about Darla, and Angelus taunted Holtz about what he had done to his family.

The casual way Angelus was talking about what he had done to Holtz's family was disturbing and disgusting, to say the least.

Buffy then remembered her future self's reaction at Holtz's mention. She had called him a bastard, and he clearly had a vendetta due to the massacre of his family.

But what had he done that had made her future self hate him so much?

Holtz hit Angelus across the chin as two men held him up and he put a stake near his throat, asking about Darla again so he told Holtz she was with Elisabeth at the docks, angering James, who pulled Angelus free of the humans and hit him. Holtz aimed at the two as bolts flew and Angelus was struck on the shoulder. He jumped on a horse and James jumped behind him as they rode down the street, more bolts flying, and then Angelus pulled the horse up in an alley where James pushed him off and said he'd kill him if he didn't have to get to Elisabeth, saying he'll tell Darla of his lack of concern for her. He rode off as Angelus staggered up, joking he needed a doctor, then dropped back down.

"I don't really think Darla is gonna care", Willow said.

"He doesn't know that", Tara told her. "He is blind in love."

"So, that's the whole story then", Buffy said in realization.

"I thought it was gonna be bigger", Xander told her.

James burst into Dr. Gregson's office, who dropped a gunk as James said he wanted the cure, and had already paid the steep price. So James later lay on an operating table as Sandy and Gregson operated on him, slicing into James' chest with a scalpel.

"What cure?" Dawn wondered. "What kind of cure are they talking about?"

"I have no idea", Buffy told her.

Lorne was singing 'I left my heart in San Francisco' in Caritas with Wesley and Gunn standing nearby, though a Demon told them to button it due to Lorne's singing.

"Oh yes, that is real music", Giles nodded in agreement.

Lorne's song finished as Merl arrived, and was assured Angel wasn't around. Wesley put money on the bar in front of Merl but first Merl tried to get more money, so Wesley started taking it back, so Merl confessed James was alive and was now looking for Angel for killing his heartthrob, and was out for blood. Lorne had come to listen too.

"Hey Merl", Dawn waved. "Still cowardly?"

"Yeah, he is out for blood", Tara agreed in a grim tone.

Gunn started dialing and at Hyperion, Angel listened to what he said before cutting the call and told Cordelia of the situation. He also knew where James would be headed, and Cordelia realized it was here. Angel opened the weapons cabinet as he told Cordelia to go home but she refused. Angel looked for his hurling ax and was told it was in the basement, and Cordelia said he'd come after her if she was alone, and she'd be held hostage.

"She does have a point", Willow said in agreement.

"At times like this, sticking together is the best option", Buffy agreed with her.

Angel ran to the basement door with Cordelia right behind. Angel then opened the basement door to find James on the other side, and he threw Angel against the wall as Cordelia ran to the lobby. James asked Angel why he had done it as they exchanged punches, and then Angel was sent flying through the lobby as James asked if it was because he had what Angel never could.

"Oh what he can have is much better than anything you had", Buffy told James. Even if Vampires could love, the relationship pretty much ended up being toxic and obsessive, the biggest example being Spike and Drusilla.

Angel told the peeking Cordelia to get back and they fought a little. James landed a punch but Angel landed many more and started choking James. Fred stepped onto the open hallway looking down onto the lobby, telling Angel she'd heard something and come out of the room- small steps. Angel stopped choking James and looking up, told Fred to stay in her room so she ran back.

"I appreciate you took small steps, but wrong timing", Willow said as all sighed.

"Timing always sucks", Xander muttered.

Angel and James fought again as James avoided a punch and hit Angel. At Caritas, Merl told Wesley and Gunn that James had been at Gregson's, and Lorne said he was a Slod Demon, and he was a collector.

"Of what?" Dawn wondered.

"Organs", Giles said in realization.

The phone rang in Hyperion's lobby but Angel was too busy fighting to answer, and was being beaten. Cordelia hurled a fire extinguisher at James's head, knocking him down, and tossed a stake to Angel but James caught it, then pushed Angel down, trying to stake him as he said Angel never loved anyone or anything.

"Wrong!" Buffy spoke up. "You don't know a thing about him."

Cordelia jumped on James' back but he sent her flying off. Angel grabbed the stake and buried it into James' chest, then hurried to help Cordelia up, assuring it was fine, but Cordelia saw James wasn't dusting, rather getting up. He pulled the stake from his chest as his wounds healed.

That shocked all of them.

"What the hell?" Xander said.

"The doctor did something to him", Giles realized. "Now he can't die by conventional means."

"Great", Buffy said sarcastically.

Angel disarmed James of the stake but was beaten down before he kicked James through some glass doors into sunlight down in the garden court, then he hustled Cordelia to the basement as they ran down the ladder into the sewers, and her coat got stuck but he told her to leave it so she slipped out of it, the two running. James dropped down into the sewers too. Angel and Cordelia came to a fork in the tunnels, and he pushed her to one of them, convincing her to go while he sliced his hand and splashed some of it down the other tunnel before rushing after Cordelia, opening a door in the tunnel's side.

"Smart move, hopefully it works", Tara said as everyone watched, really tense.

Angel had Cordelia come with him and shut the door as James ran to the fork and sniffed the air before running where Angel had sprayed his blood. Angel and Cordelia realized James was invincible now and there was no Ring of Amara. A deep rumbling was heard as the tunnel shook and Cordelia thought it was an earthquake, throwing herself at Angel but he knew it was a subway. Then they jumped and let out a short scream as Cordelia's phone rang.

"He'll hear it", Buffy said grimly as their moods plummeted a little.

Cordelia picked up as Wesley told her the situation and also that James' heart had been removed and he was invincible for a while but would die after that, though Cordelia couldn't get the exact time due to bad signal, and told Angel of it all who decided to wear him out when James burst through the doors at them and Angel hurried Cordelia out of the tunnels.

"So it's temporary, and then James dies", Willow pointed out. "Hopefully it's not that long of a time."

"They just have to wear him out", Buffy said.

Angel and Cordelia pushed through people on the stairway to the subway platform as a train pulled up, and James came down the 'up' escalator, pushing people as well. Angel pulled Cordelia through the open doors into the train. The doors closed in front of James' nose. As the train pulled out of the station Cordelia, clinging to Angel's back stuck out her tongue at James, calling him a creep. James de-vamped as he watched the train pass by him, then jumped on the back of it.

"Not so easy to lose a Vamp", Xander muttered. "Especially one that hardcore."

"They are just trying to wear him down", Dawn said.

There was a clunking sound on the roof as Angel pushed Cordelia behind him and James came bursting in through a window. James realized Angel cared about Cordelia, who said Angel had a soul now and cared about people. James smirked. "Lucky me. Now I can kill the woman you love." Angel said. "No, you can't." James asked. "Are you forgetting who's the invincible one here?" Angel told him. "The woman I love - is dead." James asked. "Who are you talking about?" Cordelia said. "It happened about three months ago. We try not to say her name too much."

"Apparently, I'm Voldemort", Buffy muttered.

"We brought you back a little while after this", Willow told her.

James realized. "You loved someone - with all your heart." Angel nodded. "Yeah." James snarled. "No you didn't. - Because if you had you wouldn't be standing here playing games with me. You wouldn't be able to - because once she died or some bastard killed her, it would have killed everything in you." Angel said. "I wouldn't be able to go on living." James told him. "Don't worry, you won't. And she won't either." James ripped a seat loose and smashed it across Angel's face. James hit Angel again sending him sliding back towards Cordelia and a male passenger standing by the door, leaning on a pair of crutches. Angel had Cordelia catch the guy as he pulled the crutches from under the guys' arms and pushed James back. Angel flipped to his feet and, one crutch under each arm, facing James.

"That's not love you're talking about", Buffy said to James. "You're talking about an unhealthy obsession."

"Even he doesn't know what true love is", Tara said in agreement with Buffy.

James attacked and Angel caught his arm with the crutches and used their leverage to twist James around and press him up against the wall. "How's that, invincible boy, huh? - Is that your idea of love, James, hmm? It's not real unless it kills, you?" James panted. "Yeah. What's yours? It's fun as long as it doesn't cost me anything? - You don't know what love is!" Angel backed up, letting James free. James slid down the wall of the train and looked up at Angel, panting: "You think you won - just because you're still alive? - I lived. - You just existed." Angel just stood there staring down at James until James suddenly turned to dust.

"He's wrong", Willow said. "He's talking about Angelus, not Angel. He loved you, Buffy, and while he doesn't know it yet, he loves Cordelia."

"James can never understand', Tara said in agreement. "He is the one who doesn't understand true love."

"People change", Buffy simply said, agreeing with the two.

Later, Cordelia saw Angel coming down the Hyperion's steps as he said Fred would probably come out of her room in a decade. Cordelia asked about Angel and he was gonna say he's okay before she said. "And don't say 'okay.' Angel, please. I know you. Ever since you've come back from your grief trip I can tell that something's not right. And, and obviously it's not. - Buffy's - dead, and I don't mean to diminish that. I miss her too. - I just wanna say - I know that James with all his Romeo and Juliet madness, opened up a lot of wounds for you, but you'll be okay." Angel told her. "I am okay." Cordelia asked. "Then - what's the problem?" Angel told her. "That I'm okay. That losing Buffy didn't kill me. That I could deal with it. - In all those years - no one ever mattered. Not like she did. - And now she's gone - forever." Cordelia nodded. "And you're still here." Angel said. "Yeah. I just feel like I'm betraying her somehow."

"No you're not", Buffy told him. "You're not. If you did what James did, then you'd be betraying me. This, this is honoring me."

"I am sure she's gonna say the same thing", Dawn said to Buffy.

Cordelia told him. "No! If you were a loser, if you were some sick obsessed vampire, you'd go to a Snod demon, or whatever, and get your heart cut out. But you're not! You're a living, breathing... Well, living, anyway - good guy, whose still fighting and trying to help people, and that's not betraying her, that's honoring her."

"Told ya", Dawn smirked as she and Buffy shared a smile.

"She has changed", Giles noted. She had become a lot more like Buffy now- heroic, kind and brave, but with a snark that couldn't be matched.

Angel asked. "You think?" Cordelia told him. "I'm Cordelia. I don't think. I know. Okay?" Cordelia gave him a big grin, which drew a small smile in response.

It drew smiles from the rest of them too.

Angel and Cordelia decided to go back to work as Wesley and Gunn arrived, regarding Nester Demons, whose Queen they had missed a few months ago, and so the four strode out of Hyperion.

"Team Angel back at work", Xander said. "Feels strange I'm saying it, but it looks good."

"Yeah, sure does", Tara agreed.

At Puerto Cabazas, Nicaragua at night, a big burly black guy came into a cantina. He pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to someone waiting for him at the bar, saying he was a difficult Shaman to find. Darla stuffed the paper into her shirt and told him he could go, though he wanted a drink to celebrate.

"Darla", Buffy sighed.

"What does she want now?" Willow wondered.

The man said he might have a surprise or two. "Well, you know what they say..." Darla vamped out and sank her teeth into the side of the guy's neck as he let out a strangled scream, then dropped him to the floor and picked up a slice of lemon and sucked on it. "Life's full of surprises." Darla got up from the bar and her belly was revealed to be bulging, big and round. The screen turned black.

Now jaws dropped once more.

"Is she…?" Dawn trailed off.

"Pregnant", Buffy finished lamely.

"But Vampires aren't supposed to be pregnant!" Giles said.

"Maybe there was some Vamp safety they didn't use", Xander commented lamely.

"How did this happen?" Tara wondered.

"Maybe Lindsey and Darla did it when she was human and she got pregnant", Willow suggested.

"But how does she have it as human?" Xander asked.

"I am sure we will find out soon", Buffy said as she picked up the remote. "Year 3 has just begun."


And another episode ends, hope all enjoyed.

[1] I just found it weird- they're in Sri Lanka so why are they speaking Tibetan?

Anyway, hope all enjoyed and see you all next time with another chapter. Stay safe from the coronavirus ya all!