Always Darkest Before The Dawn REVISED

by Mel J1701

While hunting down Darla, Angel is given a glimpse of the future and witnesses first hand the repercussions of his actions and he doesn't like what he sees...

1. Parts One and Two

Title: Always Darkest Before The Dawn (REVISED)
Author: Mel (e-mail me at cosmic_quest@yahoo.com)
Disclaimer: The characters of 'Buffy: The Vampire Slayer' and 'Angel' are all the property of Joss Whedon, the WB and Mutant Enemy, Inc and no profit has been made by my utilizing them in this story. All the other characters belong to the author of this story (i.e., me!).
Rating: PG-13 for language and angst.
Pairings: Angel/Cordelia
Summery: While hunting down Darla and Drusilla, Angel is given a glimpse of the future and witnesses first hand the repercussions of his actions...
Spoilers: This story takes part in the middle of the episode 'Reprise'.
Archiving: As long as you ask first, it should be okay.
Author's Notes: Although Cordelia doesn't appear much early on, this is very much a C/A fiction so don't let Cordelia's absence put you off. Also, most of the fiction come from Angel's perspective since it is largely his story. I have since revised this story so there are some elements which have changed greatly from the original version.
Web Page: http://www.geocities.com/cosmic_quest/index.htm
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'Here's to the child and all he has to teach us."
Ancient Proverbs

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"I'm bored. Give me the stake and let's just dust him then be done with him."

"Is that your solution to everything?"

"You know what your problem is? It's that you worry too much. It's not good for someone our age to stress over every little thing; you need to relax more like me"

"I only worry too much because you worry too little."

Angel groaned, more than ready to ream Cordelia and Wesley out for daring to allow their childish bickering to disrupt his sleep. It was only when his throbbing head cleared enough for him to realize that he was not in his bed and it was not his associates arguing. The female voice was reproving and too earnest to be his Seer's and the male voice carried an American accent and a cool edge so lacking in that of Wesley's soft bumbling. Besides, he had fired both them four weeks ago.

As his awareness increased, he became conscious of the persistent pain in his left and ribs not to mention his poor head. From the padded hard surface supporting him, Angel guessed he was lying on a couch with a woollen blanket covering him.

What the hell had happened?

Forcing open his eyes, Angel blinked against the bright light of the room, his eyes adjusting. The first thing he took in was the fact that the curtains were thankfully shut thus blocking out the burning sun scorching outside. Then he found himself being gravely regarded by two teenagers- a blond girl and a dark-haired boy.

"Well, well, well, Sleeping Beauty awakens," murmured the boy, toying with a stake and smirking at Angel's bewilderment.

"Wh...Where am I?" Angel asked, his voice hoarse.

"You're in Sunnydale, of course," replied the girl in mild puzzlement, deftly snatching the stake from her friend and placing it out of his reach.

Sunnydale...? What was going on?

The last thing he could recall clearly was Darla's rage when her attempts to bed and desoul him had failed. He had then tracked Darla and Drusilla down to an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Los Angeles only to be attacked by a pack of vampires. He had been greatly outnumbered and was remembered Darla's bewitching laughter echo through the air as he was pushed twenty foot from the warehouse roof.

He had been so close; so close to finally ridding the world of his Sire and returning back to his life with Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn. Angel knew that in his desperation to be reunited with Cordelia and rekindle the relationship that they were beginning to establish before he fired her, he had become reckless when it came to Darla. And now he wasn't sure what that carelessness had cost him.

Judging from the boy's casually cool glare, the youngster was just itching to grab at the stake and ram it through Angel's unbeating heart. The mocking challenge burning in boy's near black eyes chilled Angel for it reminded him so much of the emotions he associated with his alter ego Angelus. Strange considering the boy couldn't have been much more than sixteen years old and human at that. Oddly though, there was a hint of something supernatural in his aura, almost vampiric despite his apparent humanity.

By comparison, the girl looked a typical all-American teenager, her corn silk blond hair was pulled back from her twinkling sky blue eyes that exuded a warmth so contrasting to her darker boyfriend. Her mannerisms and attitude reminded him a little of a younger Buffy when she had first arrived in Sunnydale, carefree and energetic.

Nonetheless, like Buffy, Angel had the distinct feeling that this girl was not all as innocent as she appeared.

No, over two hundred years of moving in the circles of the demonic and undead, Angel could sense that these were not normal teenage children and something was most definitely not quite right in Sunnydale. That wasn't unusual in itself but, even for the Hellmouth, there was something very wrong going on here...

Attempting to sit up on the couch, Angel found that while he was free to move, his hands and legs were secured with rope.

The boy smirked in amusement at the vampire's struggles. "You didn't think we were just going to let you roam freely, did you? I don't think so. Now, care to tell us what you're doing in these parts?"

"I...I don't know," Angel answered honestly.

"Uh-uh, that's a likely story."

"I think he might be telling the truth," the girl said in Angel's defence.

"Oh, Ashleigh, don't be so gullible. Just 'cause our parents knew him doesn't mean he's Mr Joe Regular. I say we stake him."

The girl- Ashleigh- just shook her head in resignation. "Brendan, if you had your way, you'd kill anything that stood in your path."

"Yeah," admitted the boy, apparently named Brendan. He then shrugged helplessly. "So?"

This was an extreme case of 'good cop, bad cop' with Ashleigh in role of protecting Angel from her friend, Brendan playing an excellent version of 'bad cop'. It was evident these kids were certainly aware of vampires and the dark side that existed in their midst. And given that they both seemed to know him then they were probably young friends of the Scooby Gang or, given their age, more likely friends of Dawn Summers.

If so, then help was at hand.

His thoughts, much to his relief, were confirmed when Ashleigh said, "Let's just wait for Giles to get here and we'll see."

Brendan glowered at her. "Come on, Ash, Giles has more important things to worry about just now than *him*." There was a deep hatred in the youngster's undertone when he referred to Angel; it was almost as if the boy knew exactly who he was. "And I think *I* have the right more than anyone to decide his fate."

Angel tried to strain to his feet as the boy reached for the stake, wondering what Brendan meant by having the prerogative to kill him. Threatened, he struggled to resist his demon's demands for self-protection but he couldn't halt the growl from his throat.

"Go ahead," Brendan challenged, not in the least intimidated, "vamp out. It's just more of an invitation for me and my friend, Mr Stake."

Before the teenager could make his move, he was stopped by the girl's strong grip. "Brendan Chase, don't you dare!"

The name or, more specifically, the boy's surname, brought Angel's exertions to a halt. How could he even think of harming a boy who could be Cordelia's family? She never mentioned having a younger brother but one never knew.

"Chase? Are you related to Cordelia Chase?"

The boy just snorted. "I should damn well hope so...I'm her son."


End of Chapter One


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Chapter Two

"What?!"

Son?! The damned kid was in his mid teens, around fifteen or sixteen years old; Cordelia was not even twenty yet. To even suggest Brendan was her child was as ridiculous as Angelus volunteering to join the priesthood. Someone had obviously been feeding this poor deluded boy a pack of lies, either that or Brendan 'Chase' was experimenting drugs as his extracurricular activity.

"Don't think by denying everything, it somehow absolves you," Brendan glared, succeeding in wavering Angel's refutation.

But it was Ashleigh's open and honest gaze that jolted the vampire. "Why are you acting so weird? You know more than anyone that he's Cordy's son," she said, apparently puzzled by his incredulous reaction. "I mean, I know it's been a few years since you visited our dear old Sunnyhell but that isn't that long."

"Okay," Angel said, holding his hands up, "who are you kids? What is going on here?" He then scowled suspiciously, a thought coming to him. "If Darla put you up to this, there's going to be some blood shed tonight."

The girl exchanged a troubled glance with the boy. "My name is Ashleigh Eleanor Summers, I'm the daughter of Buffy Summers. You know that, Angel, you were the one who brought me to Sunnydale in the first place."

"Brought you to Buffy?" he repeated, scepticism dripping heavily in his tone.

Now this was becoming sheer ludicrous. So, this girl was Buffy's daughter? And when did Buffy find the time to have this child- in between nursery and kindergarten? And what was all this talk about bringing Buffy's own daughter to her? One would have thought if this girl was making up a story then she could at least make the details plausible.

Angel wasn't sure what his sire hope to achieve with this game but obviously those years of being dust in the wind had whittle down Darla's intelligence. Did she honestly think he would fall for this charade? Still, he had to hand it to them, these kids had the acting skills Cordy would kill for. If he didn't know any better, he would actually think they believed their little web of lies. Darla must have gone all out for this.

"Yes," Ashleigh replied, adamant despite his scorn and dubiousness, "when I was a baby, about a year-and-a-half. You found me on the streets, my biological parents were killed after being attacked by demons. You checked but there were no other relatives for me to go to."

"Say this is all true, why would I bring you to Buffy? Why not the police?"

"Because I'm the Slayer, the Chosen One who was destined to relieve my mom of her duties when I came of age. Lorne, on the advice of the Powers That Be, told you to take me to the present Slayer who, of course, happened to be Buffy Summers. She went on to raise me as her daughter."

"Lorne?" Angel repeated in askance.

"Yeah, y'know, that green anagogic demon friend of yours, he's also kinda Bren's uncle."

This was all craziness, yet for some reason, Angel found himself starting to believe these kids and their ridiculous story. Their sincerity, even that of the boy whose hatred towards Angel was more than discernible, was tangible to the vampire who had made a profession out of reading people's characters. Besides, how else could the girl know of his connection to the MC Demon to the extent that she even seemed to know his name, though the part of him being the boy's uncle was a puzzle.

A newspaper lay strewn nearby caught Angel's eye and he manoeuvred himself so he could read it at a better angle. It was a copy of 'The Sunnydale Post', the headline title embellished with the words 'Curse Returns? Another High School Student Dead'. Beneath the main headline told the story of a seventeen-year-old Sunnydale High student who was found ripped to pieces in the school gym. The last Angel had heard, there was no Sunnydale High School, it had been destroying in the graduation massacre the year the Scooby Gang left.

Still, this news was not what had captured his attention. It was something far more chilling. The fact that the newspaper was dated in bold print 'June 12th 2018'. He gazed up from the tabloid to the expectant stares of the two teenagers- the girl exuding patience and worry, the boy just glaring in disgust.

Could these children- not much younger than the Scoobies themselves- truly be the offspring of Cordelia Chase and Buffy Summers? Ashleigh, evidently being an adopted child, bore no real resemblance to his ex-girlfriend. But regarding Brendan in hindsight, with his wavy dark hair and bronzed complexion, he did share many of Cordy's attributes.

And now that Angel took the time to study him, it was so clear that the boy's opal eyes, though much darker and colder than the tender hazel of woman he had come to love, possessed the same perceptive quality of his Seer. He could easily have pass for her younger brother...or her son.

If the newspaper could be believed then both Cordelia and Buffy would be around thirty-seven years old now, grown up and old enough to be the mothers to an adolescent son and daughter respectively. Hell, they were probably both happily married and settled down.

Angel had to admit he felt a intense surge of jealousy at that thought; not because of his previous relationship with Buffy, no, he had burned that bridge when he turned his back on the Slayer to stand by Faith. No, he was brimming with envy and rage that another man had dared to encroach his bond with Cordelia.

For the past eight months after Cordelia's vision induced coma at the hands of Vocah, Angel had been harbouring feelings for his Seer that he had one day hoped to act upon. Now finding out that Cordelia had a child and had no doubt coped quite well without him for sixteen years shot his own emotions for her to pieces.

Of course, Angel knew this could all be some elaborate ruse created by Darla to mess with his head or as an attempt to bring back her beloved Angelus but he sensed no such deception from the teenagers. In fact, Ashleigh seemed to be concerned as to why he was at a loss.

"So, what's your excuse for 'forgetting' about everything?" Brendan asked, gruffly.

"I don't know..." Angel replied honestly.

He didn't feel comfortable telling these kids, not matter what their parentage was, that he wasn't sure he belonged in this time. Angel was anti-social, he admitted that, and found it hard to trust those he didn't know, not to mention Brendan had not given the vampire much reason to bequeath his trust willingly. No, he would wait to talk to Giles, Cordelia or Buffy. Anyway, what could a pair of juveniles possibly do to help him? Not even Buffy and Cordelia had ever seemed that young.

"Gee, that's the story of your life, isn't it?"

Ashleigh rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Bren..."

"I'm just making an observation, Ash, no need to get excited."

"So, where did you find me?" Angel asked. "I didn't just drop out of the sky, did I?"

"No," answered Ashleigh, "we found you by the high school. You were lucky it was before dawn or you would be toast."

Brendan muttered something that sounded vaguely like a sarcastic, "Yeah, real lucky."

Angel's main concern now was to find out exactly how the hell he ended up sixteen years into the future. Magick had obviously played a part, but by who's hand? Yet, that enigma was secondary for the moment as he tried to discern the exact reason why Cordelia's son was behaving so hostile towards him.

Of course, it was a known fact that his Seer could hold a grudge when she wanted to, nonetheless, surely she hadn't spent the past decade-and-a-half raising her son (or even children) to hate him. No, there had to be something deeper than the 'simple' anger no doubt bubbling in Cordelia after he fired her, Wesley and Gunn.

Though that did bother Angel for he hoped that his future self wasn't so stupid as to stay away from Cordelia and the others for too long. He had always planned, once he killed Darla, to return to his rightful place at Angel Investigations and by his Seer's side. Angel didn't want to be cut from her life indefinitely, no matter how it would hurt having to watch Cordelia going on to marry and bear a child to another man.

Just then, the door opened and Angel was surprised to find himself facing an older version of Rupert Giles. The Watcher had aged gracefully, the only sign that sixteen years had passed was the fact his hair had now completely greyed and some added wrinkles.

"So, children, what was so important that I..." His voice trailed off as Giles set eyes on Angel. "Good Lord...Angel?"

"Look what we found," Brendan said, breaking the momentary silence. "Ash said we couldn't slay him but I was hoping maybe you would favour Ole Pointy."

"Hello, Giles," Angel said, slightly sheepishly.

Giles scowled at the vampire then focused his gaze on the teenagers. "Children, why don't you get some rest? No doubt it will be a hectic night tonight and you'll need it."

Angel noted the Watcher regard the two adolescents like an uncle would look to their beloved niece and nephew. In response, Brendan's voice mellowed in the Giles's presence and for the first time Angel saw the boy for what he really was; just a boy and not the callous, wrathful young warrior he effectively portrayed.

"Why must you insist on calling us 'children'?" Brendan objected, sounding so much like an indignant Cordelia that Angel reeled in familiarity. "Ash is sixteen and I'm gonna be sixteen soon too-"

"Not for another eight months, you're not," Giles interrupted

Brendan carried on as if the Watcher had not spoken. "And we've both been slaying demons in our after school hours for years now. We don't mind helping you out some more here."

"Yeah," Ashleigh agreed, "this sounds much more interesting than getting some boring sleep."

"You'll find that when one reaches my age, Brendan, fifteen years old is barely a blink of an eye. And if you both get some sleep now then you'll have plenty of time to finish your English assignment that I know you both have due."

"It's so anathema being treated like one of those ignorant air heads in our class."

"Is it now?" From Giles's amusement, Angel guessed that was the kind of word the boy had been picked up from the older man or Wesley. "Now off you toddle home, bed then homework are awaiting."

"Aww, Uncle Giles," came the simultaneous whines, one last attempt to wheedle the Watcher's mood to their advantage.

"Y'know, I was thinking that I don't really need to listen to you now," Brendan said smugly, "I mean, Ash is the Slayer and you're *her* Watcher, not mine."

Giles glared at the boy. "Brendan..."

"Okay, okay, no need to stress those old heart muscles."

"Now run along," Giles said firmly, making it more than clear to the teenagers and Angel that whatever he wanted to discuss with the vampire was not for youngsters' ears. "Ashleigh, your mother is waiting for you and I did promise her I would send you both home for breakfast. I'll call you soon."

"Okay," the girl replied grudgingly. She put her hand on Brendan's forearm gently to attract the boy's attention away from Angel. "Come on, Bren, we *really* should go, you know how Mom can get when we're late. You'd think she was the perfect little Slayer when she was our age. Like Uncle Xander hasn't told us all the stories."

At the back of Angel's mind, he realized that when Ashleigh talked about her mother she was really meaning Buffy. It was a sobering thought once again thinking of Buffy and Cordelia as mothers to kids a mere couple of years younger than he remembered the Scooby Gang to be. Angel did wonder why Giles only referred to Buffy when sending the pair home when he doubted that Cordelia would have been pleased to hear about her son wandering around at all hours, especially given how over-protective she could be of him, Wes and Gunn.

Brendan gave Angel one last glower, a cold reminder that his joviality did not extend to the vampire, then made a more to follow Ashleigh out of the door. Before the pair could leave, Angel did have one last question of the young boy who was very possibly Cordelia's son, one question that had been burning in his mind since he was first aware of teenager's existence.

"Brendan?" he called, ignoring Giles's sudden frown when he spoke the boy's name. Both teenagers turned, Brendan's dark eyes slit back in dubious askance. "I was wondering, who…" He sighed. "...Who is your father?"

His bets were either on Wesley, for he had always known the ex-Watcher shared a brief history with Cordelia in her high school days, or on some wealthy businessman. Whoever he was, Angel hoped this man was taking good care of his precious Seer and her offspring or he would awaken the wrath of one very pissed off ensouled vampire.

However, to his surprise, Brendan just shook his head in disgust at Angel's innocent question. "Who the hell do you think my father is, Angel," sneered the teenager, confirming he did know Angel's identity, "...or should I say, *Daddy*?"


End of Chapter Two



(Hope you guys enjoyed that first segment, just two more to go.)