Chapter 5

It was another quiet evening in Sunnydale. Buffy walked through the graveyard, stake swinging idly in her hand. Not much chance of using it tonight, it seemed. This was the third night in a row that she hadn't seen a vampire, demon or even a raccoon. Buffy didn't like it. She and Dawn had recently watched a program on the Discovery Channel about frogs being the harbingers of ecological disaster. When frogs disappeared from a pond, it meant that the water was becoming polluted, even if it didn't look it. Well, in a way it was the same with vampires. Whether they increased or decreased dramatically, as they were doing lately, it wasn't a good sign. Something big was coming…an apocalypse or something else that was very much of the bad. Buffy had an uneasy feeling in her bones. Since recovering from her little bout with demon induced insanity, Buffy had felt increasingly worried that she and her friends were in a kind of calm before the storm. And there wasn't a whole lot she could do to prevent it.

For example, the day after linking the stinging demon to the nerd Troika, Buffy, Willow and Xander had gone back to the rental house where the demon had attacked. They had broken in, only to find the place deserted. If the Troika had been hiding out there, they had not left so much as a pocket protector behind. This was a bit of a puzzle. If they had indeed sicced the poison demon on her, wouldn't they assume that she was dead or catatonic by now? Why leave their hideout? It was as if they knew that Buffy had recovered and could trace the demon back to them. Certainly, they had managed to avoid the Scooby gang successfully for weeks. It's almost as if they can read our minds, Buffy thought. This was so not good. They were up to something; that much was a given. But what? And when?

And then there was the Anya situation. She had seemingly disappeared. The Magic Box was closed, and she had packed up a few things and left town. All normal enough behavior for a jilted bride. However, Anya wasn't just any jilted bride. She was an ex-Vengeance demon. Or was that Justice demon these days? Either way, they were infamous for not taking rejection well, and Buffy and Xander didn't know if she was off somewhere having a good cry or plotting revenge of the most horrific sort.

And then there was Spike. She hadn't seen hide nor duster of him since he had stood in the doorway of her room, prevented from entering by that big ray of sunlight. In her poisoned haze, she had told him that he wasn't a part of her life, and he had made some ominous threat about revealing their affair to the Scoobies if she didn't, and then left. Lucky for him, Buffy thought grimly, since she had been in a rather murderous mood, and she might well have dusted him before she came to her senses. As it was, she had barely avoided killing Willow, Xander and Dawn. Once again Buffy thought, thank heavens for Tara. What would they ever do without her refreshing sanity and calm?

Still, walking through the graveyard, Buffy kept expecting to see Spike pop out from behind each mausoleum, and the fact that he was nowhere to be found increased her uneasiness. She knew he hadn't left town. Each night as she patrolled through "his' graveyard she couldn't help stopping by his crypt, half expecting to find it deserted. However, there were always signs of recent occupation; candles recently extinguished, television still warm, the scent of cigarette smoke in the air. Face it, Buffy, she thought to herself, he is just plain avoiding you. Be thankful. This is a good thing, she reminded herself. Frequently.

Well, it was time to head for home, where at least a few things were going well. Willow was getting stronger and more like her old self every day. She and Tara were actually communicating: could reconciliation be far behind? And Dawn, after being badly scared by Buffy's "Heeere's Johnny" of a few days ago, had actually been going out of her way to be helpful and cooperative. On her part, Buffy had also made a major effort to be a better sister. She, Willow and Dawn had agreed to do a little more cooking and a little less ordering out, so that there were actual entire days without a single item from the Doublemeat menu appearing in the house.

So, if one could discount that slightly suffocating feeling of impending doom, life was pretty good. Buffy stuck her useless stake into her jacket pocket and headed for home.

Dawn was watching television, while Willow worked on a paper on her laptop in the dining room. When Buffy came in, Dawn looked up relieved, as always, that her sister had come home in one piece. "Hey, you're home early!" she said.

"Yep. You'd think it was Halloween the way the vampires are not showing up. Uh...it's not Halloween is it?"

"It's April, "said Dawn making a 'duh' face at her sister.

"Oh...okay...I thought so…just a little sanity check. Hey, Will, what's up?"

Willow came in from the dining room. "Not much. Just trying to get this stupid Poly-Sci paper done."

Buffy winked at Dawn, "Poly-Sci? What's that? Something about a mournful parrot?"

"Political Science, as you knew very well, "Willow said with a grin, "and what are you so chipper about this evening?"

"I don't know. Just enjoying an early evening at home with my roomies. What's on TV?" She asked Dawn, flopping down onto the sofa.

"Gilmore Girls. It's almost over."

"Yuck."

"Well, if we had HBO…"

Buffy sighed, "Dawn you know we can barely afford basic cable."

"I know, I know. It's okay." She gave her sister a hug, "Who needs to watch Six Feet Under?"

Buffy shot back, "Certainly not us!" At that moment the phone rang.

Buffy groaned, "What do you bet it's not good news?"

Willow spoke up as she headed for the phone; "Maybe it's Giles"

"This is too normal an hour for Giles. He always forgets the time difference."

"Hello, Summer's residence, "chirped Willow into the phone, "Oh! Hi Cordelia! Yes it has been a long time….Fine...we're all fine. Oh…well that's good to hear. What's that? Oh sure. No prob." Willow put her hand over the speaker, "Buffy…it's Cordelia and she wants to talk to you."

Buffy made a face at Willow and got up from the sofa. Willow whispered, "Oh, and by the way, she says don't worry, Angel hasn't gone evil again."

"Oh. Good."

"That's what I said." Willow handed the phone to Buffy.

"Cordelia!" Buffy said with as much fake enthusiasm as she could manage.

"Buffy! "Cordelia was no slouch at fake enthusiasm herself, "What's new?"

"I'm afraid that there is no answer to that question that would take less than a week. Have you got unlimited long distance?"

"Oh, believe me, I know just what you mean! We should get together and catch up."

"Uh, sure. Sometime, I'm uh sure…we could do that."

"Well, actually, I was kind of thinking tomorrow. We have kind of a situation here."

"Oh...a situation," Said Buffy, "Well, it's Tuesday…what else did I expect?"

"Hey, I remember that about Sunnydale. Actually our crises always seem to happen on Mondays, for some reason."

"Hmmm…well what is your 'crisis' and why do you need a slayer?"

'Well," Cordy temporized, "It's kind of a funny situation"

"Funny, ha ha, or funny weird?"

"Funny, weird, I guess."

"Well?"

Cordelia swallowed, "Well, there is no way to tell you this without just spitting it out."

"That is sounding worse by the minute. Spit."

Cordelia took a breath, "Well….you remember Darla? She was dusted by Angel but brought back to life by Wolfram and Hart and revamped by Drusilla. Angel had sex with her, though he didn't lose his soul, and she got pregnant somehow...we have no idea how, and she had this baby who seems to be human and his name is Connor and he's Angel's son."

There was a long stunned silence. Finally Buffy managed to squeak, "Angel had sex?"

"Apparently."

"He has a son? A human son?"

"Yeah. There wasn't an easy way to tell you. Somehow a birth announcement seemed a bit…"

"So when did this happen? I'm sorry, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around this. Darla, the vampire, had a baby? And she didn't eat it?"

"It happened a couple of months ago. And Darla died, dusted herself having the baby, from what I understand. I didn't see it."

"A couple of months ago, huh? And nobody though it was worth mentioning to me until now? And why isn't Angel making this call himself, it suddenly occurs to me to ask?" Buffy said coolly, though the shock was wearing off, and anger was beginning to bubble up from that bottomless pit within her.

"Angel. Well, he was going to call you, but like I said we've got this situation."

"What's that? He can't find a baby sitter?"

"Uh...Connor's been kidnapped. You can't believe all the different factions that have been after this baby. It's been like a war zone around here. But now this guy Holtz, who has a grudge against Angel from his Angelus days stole Connor and brought him into another dimension."

Buffy's anger evaporated, "Kidnapped! God, that's terrible Cordy! The poor little thing. Angel must be devastated."

"He is. And that's why we need your help."

"Look, Cordy, you know I will be glad to do what I can but if he's gone into another dimension, what can I possibly …..Wait, a minute. You can't be thinking what I think you're thinking, because if you are, just get it out of your brain right this minute."

"No, listen Buffy, just hear me out."

"No way can Dawn be involved in this. The last time somebody tried to use her as a key they almost killed her and did kill me. Remember?"

"I remember. Believe me. But this doesn't involve blood or anything bad. I swear. We have an incantation, We've all said it but the portal won't open for us. Maybe if Dawn said it, her keyness would give it enough power to…."

"Unlock the portal, I get it. Well, if all that's involved is saying an incantation…but Dawn has school tomorrow and I have to work all day, can't she just say it over the phone or something? What, Dawn? Excuse me, Cordelia, Dawn is jumping up and down here." Buffy covered the mouthpiece of the phone realizing that Dawn and Willow had been listening to Buffy's side of the conversation with great interest and now Dawn was practically exploding with excitement.

"Dawn, what is it?"

"Buffy, I want to go. Please. Let me go to Los Angelus and help Angel get his baby back. I'll do anything. I'll get all my homework done by Friday nights, I'll do all the dishes, anything."

"It might be dangerous."

"I don't care. Buffy, this is important. What's the point of being a glowy blob of energy is nobody needs one? Please?"

Buffy sighed, and got back on the phone, "Cordelia, does this incantation have to be done in person?"

"Well, the only known portal is about a half a mile away from the hotel. I think she really has to be there."

"Okay. Dawn really wants to do it, and I want to help too. I do have to work tomorrow until 5, and I really can't afford to take off. But we will leave right afterwards, and will be there tomorrow night. Dawn can miss school on Thursday, I guess. At this point, it won't make much difference. Is that soon enough?"

"Well, we can't go out to the place until after dark anyway, because of Angel, so I guess it will do."

"Is there a place for us to stay?"

"Well, duh, it is a hotel. But there's no room service. Or maid service. Listen Buffy, this is great. I'll tell Angel to expect you."

"Okay. See you tomorrow night." Buffy hung up the phone. She had a million questions and a few choice things to say to Angel, but that could all wait until tomorrow night in Los Angeles.

Buffy turned to Willow. "Can you and Xander hold down the fort tomorrow night? There haven't been any vampires, so you probably won't even need to patrol."

"We'll be fine, Buffy. Maybe Tara will come over."

"Great. If you get any word on the Troika, don't do anything until I get back, okay? And if you or Xander hear from Anya...call me, okay?"

"Do we get to stay in Angel's hotel? That is so cool. I'm going to go pack!" Dawn practically skipped towards the stairs. Buffy realized that it had been a long time since they'd had a change of scenery.

"It's only for one night! So no need to bring everything you own!" She called out.

Buffy wandered into the kitchen, lost in thought. She wondered if this crisis was the big thing she had been worrying about, but then doubted it. It might be big in Angel's world, but it didn't really affect the folks here in Sunnydale. That crisis was yet to come. But still, Angel with a baby! It was almost too much to comprehend. Suddenly, Buffy walked back into the living room and grabbed her jacket.

"Buffy, where are you going? What happened to TV with the roomies? And now we have all this cool Angel gossip to discuss."

"Willow, I have to go out for a little while. I just thought of somebody I have to talk to. I'll be back in a few and we can have a gossip festival. I promise. " With that, Buffy disappeared out the front door.