CHAPTER 5
The whirlwind around her seemed to wind down a little, and she found herself staring at the stairs impatiently. Connor lay asleep in Fred's arms across from her and she absent-mindedly nodded from time to time when the ex-Pylean refugee spoke to her. Skip stood nearby, examining Cordy's expression and posture.
She didn't seem to mind – or even notice for that matter – as she was too busy thinking back to her conversation with Alessia. She could still hear the soft, heartbreaking whispers; see the small tears in the girl's eyes as she told Cordelia parts of her story.
"Are you okay?" Skip's voice broke her out of her own thoughts.
Cordy took her eyes off of the staircase for the first time and looked at Skip, who was now standing in front of her, looking concerned.
"Yeah…" she managed to speak, after pondering the question silently.
"Listen," Skip said, making sure his voice was low so she would be the only one to hear him. "I'm not sure what she told you, but I have a pretty good idea it wasn't easy to hear." He took a deep breath. "Cordelia…Ally…she's…There is just so much more…" Skip began and then stammered. He lowered his eyes and sighed. He couldn't do this to Alessia, not after he had promised. "It's…"
"What?" Cordy's eyes grew concerned, and Skip glanced at the stairs, silently.
"Nothing." He finally spoke.
"They've been up there for a really long time…" Fred then chimed in from beside them.
Cordy's eyes immediately went to the stairs and she put down the teddy bear on the counter.
--
With slow and hesitant steps, Cordelia pushed the door to Angel's bedroom open and walked in, surveying the room with her deep hazel eyes. Alessia's bloodstained clothes remained on the chair by Angel's bed.
"Angel?" Cordy asked in a quiet voice as she made her way around the room.
She looked into the nursery, but no one was to be found. With a frown, she called out Angel's name one more time.
"Angel?!" This time, a slight fear and panic took over her words.
Angel and Alessia were nowhere to be found. The room was completely empty. She stood there for a few seconds, until Skip walked into the room behind her.
"They're not here." Cordy informed him in a fearful tone. "Skip?" she pressed him for an explanation, even though she wasn't sure he had any.
"They're gone." Skip said, taking in the situation.
"I got that part already – thank you." Cordy gritted through her teeth. "How did they leave without any of us noticing?! And why?"
Skip took a deep breath as he looked around the dark bedroom.
"I think I know where they went." Skip's voice was filled with warning and resignation.
--
The loud sound of the door crashing down onto the floor broke the intense silence that swept through the Wolfram and Hart office building. The weighed of Angel's feet sent the piece of wood flying open and Angel stepped in, followed by a very alert Alessia. The two of them looked around the room in silence before Angel turned to her.
"I don't like this…" Angel mumbled, as if they'd had this discussion before. "You shouldn't…" he began but Alessia's exasperated sigh stopped him.
"Oh would you please stop it?" she mumbled. "I've seen worse than Lilah's office, believe me." She added in a softer and kinder tone, raising an eyebrow.
The two of them searched the dark room quickly with their eyes and stepped inside. Angel walked towards the desk and began looking through the drawers but Alessia stopped him immediately.
"Not there. Here." She said pointing to the wall.
Just as Angel was lifting his eyes from the desk, a look of darkness overshadowed his eyes. Alessia noticed it instantly and her eyes turned to what Angel was staring at.
"So it is true." A voice was heard from the doorway.
Alessia stared, a dark, almost dangerously disturbing look invading her young hazel eyes. Angel instinctively, and protectively stepped beside Alessia. For a moment there, he was almost taken aback by the expression on her face. So intense. So dark. So reminiscent of his own inner darkness, and it pained him to see such an expression on her face.
"You did come all the way over here to save the world." Lilah spoke, leaning against the doorframe, staring at Angel and Alessia.
Angel moved to step in front of Alessia, trying to threaten and intimidate Lilah, but he was shocked when Alessia stopped him. The girl grabbed his arm forcefully and took a few steps toward Lilah herself. There was a long and intense silence between the three of them and Angel almost cringed at Alessia's stubbornness. Why was she acting this way? What was prompting it?
Angel watched as a tiny smirk appeared on Lilah's face. The woman took a few steps towards Alessia, whose eyes begged Angel to stand back.
"How do you know?" Angel growled, working really hard on not ripping the woman's head off with his bare hands.
"I have my contacts." She said, amused. "What a nice family portrait." Lilah grinned and then looked around herself with a frown. "Where's mommy?" she asked but Alessia only clenched her jaw and stared at her dangerously. "Awww…don't tell me she left you to fend for yourself once again…" a wicked smile brushed her lips. "At least you're not in a closet this time around."
That was it. In a burst of rage and anger, Angel stepped passed Alessia and grabbed Lilah by the throat, shoving her against the door frame. He held her there, nearly chocking her to death as he gritted through his teeth:
"Give me one reason not to kill you." His voice was low, scary, threatening…making the demon in him proud and cheerful.
He was almost stunned when he saw her smile. Here he was, nearly strangling her and she was smiling at him. The next thing he knew, Alessia's firm grip was on h is shoulder and she was begging him to let go. The sound of Alessia's voice confused him at first but the girl kept tugging on Angel's shirt, pleading for him not to do this.
"Come on, do it." Lilah challenged Angel.
"Angel don't!" Alessia begged of him.
"Yeah…you wouldn't want to traumatize poor little Ally here…" Lilah laughed as Angel let go of her and backed away slightly. "What kind of father would kill in front of his own child?" she spit out as the entire room became silent. "Although...maybe she's used to it by now..."
Angel literally froze, finding himself unable to move, or think. He turned to face Alessia, who was now lowering her eyes painfully. Angel opened his mouth to say something but at the sight of the heartbroken teenager, no word came out.
He had heard Alessia's words back in his room. At first, he had not been sure what she had meant, and even though he had wanted to ask about it, he had seen that deeply shattered look in her eyes. That look. Those eyes. It had stopped him from asking her. And it did not as well. That guilt and helplessness on her face was silently begging of him not to say anything.
He stared at the young woman in front of him, realization dawning on him for the first time. Alessia Chase.
Cordy's daughter. Cordelia Chase's daughter.
And he sucked in an unnecessary breath.
His daughter.
"Was it something I said?" Lilah smirked, sensing the obvious intensity and shock that invaded Angel's undead body.
"Shut up." Alessia's words were the only ones breaking through the silence.
Her voice was low, shaky and immensely threatening. Her eyes focused on Lilah's face and stayed there, never wavering, never blinking. Angel was too numb to think coherently at the time. All he could do was stare at the girl beside him. There was something in Alessia's eyes that made him painfully aware that he wasn't supposed to know the truth. He had not been meant to know. But now he did.
"What is it, Ally. The truth too painful to hear? Or maybe you just wanted to let 'fate' take its course? Was that it?" Lilah's condescending tone wasn't lost on Alessia but the girl remained silent. "What are you doing here, huh?" she then asked, shaking her head.
Alessia and Angel knew that she wasn't talking specifically about her office.
"Do they know? Do they really know what you are giving up here?" Lilah asked as Alessia simply stared with tears in her eyes. "They don't know you. They [b]don't[/b] love you." Alessia felt her heart break inside her chest as the words rang into her head. "They [i]can't[/i] love you." Lilah spit in Alessia's face. "You're willing to give up your life for these people?"
"Shut up…" Alessia repeated through her teeth as tears welled up in her eyes involuntarily.
"You're willing to give up everything that you have, for people who don't even care about you?"
"Yeah…yeah, I am." Alessia spoke, tearfully but firmly.
Angel felt his un-beating heart break inside his chest at the sound of Alessia's emotional voice.
"I don't care if they don't know me. I don't care if they can't [i]remember[/i] me…" she continued, trying to hold back her tears. "I don't care if they don't know who I am, or what I did, or what my life was. I don't care if i don't exist here...I don't care if they can't love me…" she said, her last words ending in a heartbreaking whisper. Angel closed his eyes in pain at the sound of her words. "If you come anywhere near them, or if you hurt them, I will make you pay…I will…no matter what." She threatened her.
"How heroic of you…" Lilah muttered, staring at the strong, tearful girl. A long ad painful silence stood between the three of them before Lilah spoke again, obviously pleased by the effect her words had on both Angel and Alessia. "It's too bad that when you look at her, you see your mother. When she looks at you, all she sees is a stranger…"
A small tear rolled down Alessia's face and she slowly glanced at Angel. There was no need for words. Behind the tears and the emotion, a determination and a darkness that mirrored his own shone through. With one look, Angel knew exactly what Alessia was silently telling him.
As if they both knew what the other was thinking, Angel headed straight for Lilah while Alessia skipped passed them and headed towards the wall. Angel grabbed Lilah firmly and banged her head on the doorframe, knocking her out so fast she barely even noticed. In the meantime, Alessia stood in front of the large, white wall, staring at it intensely. She carefully placed her hands on it and moved them, slowly, while Angel watched. He wasn't sure what she was doing but she seemed so concentrated that he didn't say a word. After a few quick seconds, Alessia stopped moving, her eyes piercing through the wall, and with one painful move, she threw her fist into the wall. A small cry escaped her throat as her fist went through the wood and built a large hole into the wall. She clenched her jaw in pain and reached further down in the hole, pulling out a thick black book with her bloody hand.
--
Cordelia, Skip and the others jumped when they heard the front door of the Hyperion slide open. Cordy found herself springing off her chair and nearly running into their direction. She saw the worry-filled expression on Angel's face, before noticing the quieter, subdued, and emotional look in Alessia's eyes.
Something had happened. She knew it.
Angel glanced at a silent Alessia and his thoughts went back to Lilah's words…to the truth. Not a word had been spoken during the ride back to the hotel. Even if it killed him not to say anything, he could see in Alessia's behavior that she'd rather he did not mention it. And now, as he stood beside her, seeing the painful way in which she looked at Cordelia, he knew that Cordelia didn't know.
And he silently agreed not to be the one to reveal the truth.
"Oh my God!" Cordy exclaimed, seeing the cuts and bruises on Alessia's hand. "What happened to you?" she asked, grabbing her daughter's bleeding fist in her hands.
"We got the book from Wolfram and Hart." Angel said, tossing the book on the table.
He turned and watched as Cordelia grabbed a first aid kit and began taking care of Alessia's injuries. He didn't pay much attention to Wesley and Gunn's talking in the background. His eyes were resting on the two women on the big couch. This time, he was painfully aware of the hurt and sadness in Alessia's eyes. The young girl could barely look Cordelia directly, and that's when Lilah's words came back to aunt him.
"What is wrong with you?!" Cordelia said, glaring towards Angel as she continued clean Alessia's wounds. "Are you nuts!? Going off like that…."
"It was her idea…" Angel answered in his boyish, puppy dog voice of his that Cordelia knew way too well. "It was!" he tried to defend himself.
"So what? You agreed." Cordy replied.
"Well, she is your daughter…" Angel said as if that said it all, and Cordelia raised an eyebrow. "It's not like she would take no for an answer."
"Wonder where she got [i]that[/i] from?" Gunn said in an amused voice, as he and Fred smiled.
Throughout all of this, Alessia had remained strangely silent. She looked down at the floor while Cordy finished putting the bandage on her cuts. Alessia swallowed the big lump in her throat before looking up to Cordelia and thanking her. Skip noticed the invisible tears hidden in Ally's eyes and he knew that there was more to it than meets the eye.
"What's wrong?" Cordy asked just as Alessia looked up to her, finally.
"Nothing." Alessia answered in a sad voice. "We went, we got the book, we're back. It buys you time."
Cordelia looked back and forth between Angel and Alessia and suddenly got this weird sensation that there was more to it than what Alessia was willing to let on. Cordy's eyes bore into Angel's and her heart skipped a beat.
"What happened?" she asked with determination.
Angel opened his mouth to say something but no word came out.
"Nothing." Alessia spoke again, standing up. Her voice was soft and gentle. "Nothing…" she repeated, as she looked at her mother's concerned face.
Deep down, Lilah's words rang true. She was a stranger to the. To all of them.
"I'm…I'm really tired." Alessia whispered in a heartbreaking tone as she glanced at an equally emotional Angel.
"You can take my room. That's okay." Angel said, avoiding Cordelia's intense stare.
With that, Alessia walked up the stairs.
"Ally?" Skip called out and she turned around to look at him. "That was really brave of you..."
Alessia lowered her eyes and let a small tear rolled down her face.
"No it wasn't." she whispered before turning back and leaving.
Cordy waited for her to be out of sight before she walked up to Angel and pressed him to tell her what had happened.
"Angel, look at me." She said, forcing him to look at her.
He looked at her with tears in his eyes, getting lost in the confused and worried look on Cordy's face. They both stood there, staring at one another in silence, and Angel lowered his eyes once more. He felt the warm touch of Cordelia's hands on his as she tenderly wrapped her fingers around the coolness of his skin.
"Angel…tell me…" she whispered, a mixture of emotion filling her voice.
--
Alessia helplessly let herself slip onto the floor, crying and bringing her hands to her head in pain. Her tears were silent but her face twisted. She grabbed her head and sat with her back against the door of Angel's bedroom.
She cried like that, in the dark, as her body shook in pain. Her body jerked around a couple of times and she tried to hold her breath, willing the pain to go away.
The bracelet on her wrist lit up a few times and each time, she felt herself tremble, helplessly. Salty tears rolled down the side of her face as she bit her lower lip, repressing the sound of her cries.
After a few minutes, she gasped, took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around herself, closing her eyes. She sat on the floor in the dark bedroom where she had been born, where she had slept so many nights before. The metallic bracelet finally stopped flashing and she regained a more normal breathing.
She comforted herself in the darkness and silence of the room, until a few whimpers startled her. She looked up and saw the door to the adjacent nursery open, hearing Connor's tiny little noises fill the room.
--
Cordelia stood there, speechless. Angel had told her about what had happened at Wolfram and Hart. Everything.
Everything except the most important part. The part, which Alessia had purposely kept secret thus far.
The part where he was a father.
That secret wasn't his to reveal. That secret wasn't his; it was Alessia's.
Angel had told Cordelia about the things Lilah said to Alessia and how it seemed to have affected her deeply. As the two of them stood there, processing Lilah's words, Skip walked up to them and placed a hand on Angel's shoulder.
"Okay." Skip sighed heavily and gave them a very disturbingly intense look. "I shouldn't be doing this…and Ally would probably kill me if she knew that I was about to do this, but I have to…" he added in a low voice. "I think it's time the three of us have a little conversation." He spoke with a grave expression on his demonic face.
Angel and Cordelia both looked at him with concern in their eyes.
"About what?" Cordelia asked, almost dreading his answer.
"About that girl who just walked up those stairs…and about all the things that she's been keeping from you."
The whirlwind around her seemed to wind down a little, and she found herself staring at the stairs impatiently. Connor lay asleep in Fred's arms across from her and she absent-mindedly nodded from time to time when the ex-Pylean refugee spoke to her. Skip stood nearby, examining Cordy's expression and posture.
She didn't seem to mind – or even notice for that matter – as she was too busy thinking back to her conversation with Alessia. She could still hear the soft, heartbreaking whispers; see the small tears in the girl's eyes as she told Cordelia parts of her story.
"Are you okay?" Skip's voice broke her out of her own thoughts.
Cordy took her eyes off of the staircase for the first time and looked at Skip, who was now standing in front of her, looking concerned.
"Yeah…" she managed to speak, after pondering the question silently.
"Listen," Skip said, making sure his voice was low so she would be the only one to hear him. "I'm not sure what she told you, but I have a pretty good idea it wasn't easy to hear." He took a deep breath. "Cordelia…Ally…she's…There is just so much more…" Skip began and then stammered. He lowered his eyes and sighed. He couldn't do this to Alessia, not after he had promised. "It's…"
"What?" Cordy's eyes grew concerned, and Skip glanced at the stairs, silently.
"Nothing." He finally spoke.
"They've been up there for a really long time…" Fred then chimed in from beside them.
Cordy's eyes immediately went to the stairs and she put down the teddy bear on the counter.
--
With slow and hesitant steps, Cordelia pushed the door to Angel's bedroom open and walked in, surveying the room with her deep hazel eyes. Alessia's bloodstained clothes remained on the chair by Angel's bed.
"Angel?" Cordy asked in a quiet voice as she made her way around the room.
She looked into the nursery, but no one was to be found. With a frown, she called out Angel's name one more time.
"Angel?!" This time, a slight fear and panic took over her words.
Angel and Alessia were nowhere to be found. The room was completely empty. She stood there for a few seconds, until Skip walked into the room behind her.
"They're not here." Cordy informed him in a fearful tone. "Skip?" she pressed him for an explanation, even though she wasn't sure he had any.
"They're gone." Skip said, taking in the situation.
"I got that part already – thank you." Cordy gritted through her teeth. "How did they leave without any of us noticing?! And why?"
Skip took a deep breath as he looked around the dark bedroom.
"I think I know where they went." Skip's voice was filled with warning and resignation.
--
The loud sound of the door crashing down onto the floor broke the intense silence that swept through the Wolfram and Hart office building. The weighed of Angel's feet sent the piece of wood flying open and Angel stepped in, followed by a very alert Alessia. The two of them looked around the room in silence before Angel turned to her.
"I don't like this…" Angel mumbled, as if they'd had this discussion before. "You shouldn't…" he began but Alessia's exasperated sigh stopped him.
"Oh would you please stop it?" she mumbled. "I've seen worse than Lilah's office, believe me." She added in a softer and kinder tone, raising an eyebrow.
The two of them searched the dark room quickly with their eyes and stepped inside. Angel walked towards the desk and began looking through the drawers but Alessia stopped him immediately.
"Not there. Here." She said pointing to the wall.
Just as Angel was lifting his eyes from the desk, a look of darkness overshadowed his eyes. Alessia noticed it instantly and her eyes turned to what Angel was staring at.
"So it is true." A voice was heard from the doorway.
Alessia stared, a dark, almost dangerously disturbing look invading her young hazel eyes. Angel instinctively, and protectively stepped beside Alessia. For a moment there, he was almost taken aback by the expression on her face. So intense. So dark. So reminiscent of his own inner darkness, and it pained him to see such an expression on her face.
"You did come all the way over here to save the world." Lilah spoke, leaning against the doorframe, staring at Angel and Alessia.
Angel moved to step in front of Alessia, trying to threaten and intimidate Lilah, but he was shocked when Alessia stopped him. The girl grabbed his arm forcefully and took a few steps toward Lilah herself. There was a long and intense silence between the three of them and Angel almost cringed at Alessia's stubbornness. Why was she acting this way? What was prompting it?
Angel watched as a tiny smirk appeared on Lilah's face. The woman took a few steps towards Alessia, whose eyes begged Angel to stand back.
"How do you know?" Angel growled, working really hard on not ripping the woman's head off with his bare hands.
"I have my contacts." She said, amused. "What a nice family portrait." Lilah grinned and then looked around herself with a frown. "Where's mommy?" she asked but Alessia only clenched her jaw and stared at her dangerously. "Awww…don't tell me she left you to fend for yourself once again…" a wicked smile brushed her lips. "At least you're not in a closet this time around."
That was it. In a burst of rage and anger, Angel stepped passed Alessia and grabbed Lilah by the throat, shoving her against the door frame. He held her there, nearly chocking her to death as he gritted through his teeth:
"Give me one reason not to kill you." His voice was low, scary, threatening…making the demon in him proud and cheerful.
He was almost stunned when he saw her smile. Here he was, nearly strangling her and she was smiling at him. The next thing he knew, Alessia's firm grip was on h is shoulder and she was begging him to let go. The sound of Alessia's voice confused him at first but the girl kept tugging on Angel's shirt, pleading for him not to do this.
"Come on, do it." Lilah challenged Angel.
"Angel don't!" Alessia begged of him.
"Yeah…you wouldn't want to traumatize poor little Ally here…" Lilah laughed as Angel let go of her and backed away slightly. "What kind of father would kill in front of his own child?" she spit out as the entire room became silent. "Although...maybe she's used to it by now..."
Angel literally froze, finding himself unable to move, or think. He turned to face Alessia, who was now lowering her eyes painfully. Angel opened his mouth to say something but at the sight of the heartbroken teenager, no word came out.
He had heard Alessia's words back in his room. At first, he had not been sure what she had meant, and even though he had wanted to ask about it, he had seen that deeply shattered look in her eyes. That look. Those eyes. It had stopped him from asking her. And it did not as well. That guilt and helplessness on her face was silently begging of him not to say anything.
He stared at the young woman in front of him, realization dawning on him for the first time. Alessia Chase.
Cordy's daughter. Cordelia Chase's daughter.
And he sucked in an unnecessary breath.
His daughter.
"Was it something I said?" Lilah smirked, sensing the obvious intensity and shock that invaded Angel's undead body.
"Shut up." Alessia's words were the only ones breaking through the silence.
Her voice was low, shaky and immensely threatening. Her eyes focused on Lilah's face and stayed there, never wavering, never blinking. Angel was too numb to think coherently at the time. All he could do was stare at the girl beside him. There was something in Alessia's eyes that made him painfully aware that he wasn't supposed to know the truth. He had not been meant to know. But now he did.
"What is it, Ally. The truth too painful to hear? Or maybe you just wanted to let 'fate' take its course? Was that it?" Lilah's condescending tone wasn't lost on Alessia but the girl remained silent. "What are you doing here, huh?" she then asked, shaking her head.
Alessia and Angel knew that she wasn't talking specifically about her office.
"Do they know? Do they really know what you are giving up here?" Lilah asked as Alessia simply stared with tears in her eyes. "They don't know you. They [b]don't[/b] love you." Alessia felt her heart break inside her chest as the words rang into her head. "They [i]can't[/i] love you." Lilah spit in Alessia's face. "You're willing to give up your life for these people?"
"Shut up…" Alessia repeated through her teeth as tears welled up in her eyes involuntarily.
"You're willing to give up everything that you have, for people who don't even care about you?"
"Yeah…yeah, I am." Alessia spoke, tearfully but firmly.
Angel felt his un-beating heart break inside his chest at the sound of Alessia's emotional voice.
"I don't care if they don't know me. I don't care if they can't [i]remember[/i] me…" she continued, trying to hold back her tears. "I don't care if they don't know who I am, or what I did, or what my life was. I don't care if i don't exist here...I don't care if they can't love me…" she said, her last words ending in a heartbreaking whisper. Angel closed his eyes in pain at the sound of her words. "If you come anywhere near them, or if you hurt them, I will make you pay…I will…no matter what." She threatened her.
"How heroic of you…" Lilah muttered, staring at the strong, tearful girl. A long ad painful silence stood between the three of them before Lilah spoke again, obviously pleased by the effect her words had on both Angel and Alessia. "It's too bad that when you look at her, you see your mother. When she looks at you, all she sees is a stranger…"
A small tear rolled down Alessia's face and she slowly glanced at Angel. There was no need for words. Behind the tears and the emotion, a determination and a darkness that mirrored his own shone through. With one look, Angel knew exactly what Alessia was silently telling him.
As if they both knew what the other was thinking, Angel headed straight for Lilah while Alessia skipped passed them and headed towards the wall. Angel grabbed Lilah firmly and banged her head on the doorframe, knocking her out so fast she barely even noticed. In the meantime, Alessia stood in front of the large, white wall, staring at it intensely. She carefully placed her hands on it and moved them, slowly, while Angel watched. He wasn't sure what she was doing but she seemed so concentrated that he didn't say a word. After a few quick seconds, Alessia stopped moving, her eyes piercing through the wall, and with one painful move, she threw her fist into the wall. A small cry escaped her throat as her fist went through the wood and built a large hole into the wall. She clenched her jaw in pain and reached further down in the hole, pulling out a thick black book with her bloody hand.
--
Cordelia, Skip and the others jumped when they heard the front door of the Hyperion slide open. Cordy found herself springing off her chair and nearly running into their direction. She saw the worry-filled expression on Angel's face, before noticing the quieter, subdued, and emotional look in Alessia's eyes.
Something had happened. She knew it.
Angel glanced at a silent Alessia and his thoughts went back to Lilah's words…to the truth. Not a word had been spoken during the ride back to the hotel. Even if it killed him not to say anything, he could see in Alessia's behavior that she'd rather he did not mention it. And now, as he stood beside her, seeing the painful way in which she looked at Cordelia, he knew that Cordelia didn't know.
And he silently agreed not to be the one to reveal the truth.
"Oh my God!" Cordy exclaimed, seeing the cuts and bruises on Alessia's hand. "What happened to you?" she asked, grabbing her daughter's bleeding fist in her hands.
"We got the book from Wolfram and Hart." Angel said, tossing the book on the table.
He turned and watched as Cordelia grabbed a first aid kit and began taking care of Alessia's injuries. He didn't pay much attention to Wesley and Gunn's talking in the background. His eyes were resting on the two women on the big couch. This time, he was painfully aware of the hurt and sadness in Alessia's eyes. The young girl could barely look Cordelia directly, and that's when Lilah's words came back to aunt him.
"What is wrong with you?!" Cordelia said, glaring towards Angel as she continued clean Alessia's wounds. "Are you nuts!? Going off like that…."
"It was her idea…" Angel answered in his boyish, puppy dog voice of his that Cordelia knew way too well. "It was!" he tried to defend himself.
"So what? You agreed." Cordy replied.
"Well, she is your daughter…" Angel said as if that said it all, and Cordelia raised an eyebrow. "It's not like she would take no for an answer."
"Wonder where she got [i]that[/i] from?" Gunn said in an amused voice, as he and Fred smiled.
Throughout all of this, Alessia had remained strangely silent. She looked down at the floor while Cordy finished putting the bandage on her cuts. Alessia swallowed the big lump in her throat before looking up to Cordelia and thanking her. Skip noticed the invisible tears hidden in Ally's eyes and he knew that there was more to it than meets the eye.
"What's wrong?" Cordy asked just as Alessia looked up to her, finally.
"Nothing." Alessia answered in a sad voice. "We went, we got the book, we're back. It buys you time."
Cordelia looked back and forth between Angel and Alessia and suddenly got this weird sensation that there was more to it than what Alessia was willing to let on. Cordy's eyes bore into Angel's and her heart skipped a beat.
"What happened?" she asked with determination.
Angel opened his mouth to say something but no word came out.
"Nothing." Alessia spoke again, standing up. Her voice was soft and gentle. "Nothing…" she repeated, as she looked at her mother's concerned face.
Deep down, Lilah's words rang true. She was a stranger to the. To all of them.
"I'm…I'm really tired." Alessia whispered in a heartbreaking tone as she glanced at an equally emotional Angel.
"You can take my room. That's okay." Angel said, avoiding Cordelia's intense stare.
With that, Alessia walked up the stairs.
"Ally?" Skip called out and she turned around to look at him. "That was really brave of you..."
Alessia lowered her eyes and let a small tear rolled down her face.
"No it wasn't." she whispered before turning back and leaving.
Cordy waited for her to be out of sight before she walked up to Angel and pressed him to tell her what had happened.
"Angel, look at me." She said, forcing him to look at her.
He looked at her with tears in his eyes, getting lost in the confused and worried look on Cordy's face. They both stood there, staring at one another in silence, and Angel lowered his eyes once more. He felt the warm touch of Cordelia's hands on his as she tenderly wrapped her fingers around the coolness of his skin.
"Angel…tell me…" she whispered, a mixture of emotion filling her voice.
--
Alessia helplessly let herself slip onto the floor, crying and bringing her hands to her head in pain. Her tears were silent but her face twisted. She grabbed her head and sat with her back against the door of Angel's bedroom.
She cried like that, in the dark, as her body shook in pain. Her body jerked around a couple of times and she tried to hold her breath, willing the pain to go away.
The bracelet on her wrist lit up a few times and each time, she felt herself tremble, helplessly. Salty tears rolled down the side of her face as she bit her lower lip, repressing the sound of her cries.
After a few minutes, she gasped, took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around herself, closing her eyes. She sat on the floor in the dark bedroom where she had been born, where she had slept so many nights before. The metallic bracelet finally stopped flashing and she regained a more normal breathing.
She comforted herself in the darkness and silence of the room, until a few whimpers startled her. She looked up and saw the door to the adjacent nursery open, hearing Connor's tiny little noises fill the room.
--
Cordelia stood there, speechless. Angel had told her about what had happened at Wolfram and Hart. Everything.
Everything except the most important part. The part, which Alessia had purposely kept secret thus far.
The part where he was a father.
That secret wasn't his to reveal. That secret wasn't his; it was Alessia's.
Angel had told Cordelia about the things Lilah said to Alessia and how it seemed to have affected her deeply. As the two of them stood there, processing Lilah's words, Skip walked up to them and placed a hand on Angel's shoulder.
"Okay." Skip sighed heavily and gave them a very disturbingly intense look. "I shouldn't be doing this…and Ally would probably kill me if she knew that I was about to do this, but I have to…" he added in a low voice. "I think it's time the three of us have a little conversation." He spoke with a grave expression on his demonic face.
Angel and Cordelia both looked at him with concern in their eyes.
"About what?" Cordelia asked, almost dreading his answer.
"About that girl who just walked up those stairs…and about all the things that she's been keeping from you."