Disclaimer: They belong to the WB etc.

Summary: Installment no. 8. For all those who were wondering where the Angel disappeared off to.

Lorne is still in Vegas, Connor has learned the truth, and Angel and Wesley have started to patch things up. To learn more, read the damn story. Enjoy!





Chapter 12

Galway, 1753

Anna raced down the laneway as fast as she could in the bulky dress she wore to church.

Liam had not been at the house, and as Anna had not wanted to return to the church without him, she had begun to search the town.

The local taverns had been her first bet.

The blacksmith was her second.

If she didn't find him there she would turn to knocking on doors randomly.

It wasn't the safest thing for a young woman to be doing on a Sunday afternoon, but she had been faced with a hellish red tunnel that morning and survived, and she was willing to do whatever it took to find the young rogue.

She entered the blacksmith's hayshed.

"Liam?!" she called, for perhaps the tenth time that day. She fought to catch her breath.

"Liam?! . . . .. .Thomas?"

"Yes?" asked Thomas pleasantly, poking his head out from behind a bale of hay.

"Have you seen Liam?" she asked, still breathing hard.

Thomas leered at her.

"Chasin' after him now are we?"

Anna caught the implication and felt her face burn.

"I need to speak with him," she said, "it's about his sister."

"What about Kathy?" asked Liam from behind her.

She spun around, suspecting furiously that he had been there the whole time.

Seeing his face though, she realized that he had only arrived in time to hear her last phrase. He was holding two mugs of something he'd just brought out from the house.. He looked concerned.

Anna suddenly realized that she had been distracted from the reality of Kathy's disappearance by the task of finding the older brother.

Now, faced with the prospect of giving him the news, she felt her knees go weak. The memory of Kathy's little face as she was pulled away from her father fixed itself in her mind's eye.

Anna had never been so horrified in all her young life.

Liam must have seen something in her face because his voice rose in panic as he asked,

"What's happened to Kathy?"

Anna choked.

"What happened Anna?!"

"This mornin' at the church . . . . .she . . . . .she disappeared through a . . . . .a . . .I don't . . . .I didn't. . . ."

Liam listened with a growing sense of fear. Then suddenly he ran.

As he disappeared down the laneway Anna called out after him,

"Go to the church! Your father's still there!"

He gave no sign that he had heard, but she thought she noticed an increase in his speed.

He wasn't the fastest runner, being of large build with no tendencies toward exercise, but he was running fast now.

Anna watched him disappear, then collapsed on the nearest bail of hay, , still trying to catch her breath.

She dimly registered that Thomas was still standing nearby, still leering at her.

She glanced up.

"Would you be likin' a shoulder to cry on?" he asked.

Anna shook her head numbly.

He sat beside her, placing an arm around her shoulder.

"Come now," he said soothingly, "I don't know what's happened, but I'm sure it's not so terrible."

She felt her shoulders shake in response to that. Oh how wrong he was.

"You need comfort?" he whispered.

His tone made her look up, suddenly very aware of how close he was, and how compromised her position was.

She stiffened nervously.

If Liam had not been gone he might have intervened.

Anna tried to stand.

Thomas pulled her back down.

"Just sit," he said softly.

"No," she mumbled, trying to pull away. She tried harder when his grip tightened.

When he spoke again his voice was not so soft.

"What? Good enough for Master Liam but not for Thomas?"

Anna felt a scream building in her throat as she realized how easily he was overpowering her.

She felt and heard the material of her dress being torn.

Solid hands were gripping at her wrists as she struggled.

"Liam!!" she screamed instinctively, while part of her knew that he had to be a mile away by now.

Which was why she was so surprised when Thomas was suddenly thrown from her with shocking force.

Thud.

She sprung to her feet as fast as she could, holding her dress together with one hand and warding her attacker off with the other.

She felt parts of her hair falling loose from the tight bun she'd fashioned for church.

It took a moment or two to comprehend the scene before her.

Thomas was slumped unconscious against a tall wooden cart, a trickle of blood running down his cheek.

Standing over him was a man in a long black ripped coat.

His shoulder was bare and scratched and bloody.

He was facing away from her, toward Thomas, and on the back of the shoulder she saw a tattoo of a flying creature.

His boots were odd.

His dark hair was short and sticking out in all directions.

She thought she heard him growl.

She raised her free hand anticipating another attack. Instinctively she feared this man more than Thomas.

Abruptly he turned to face her.

She gasped in shock.

"Liam?"

His face was as scratched as his shoulder, scars that looked at least two days old.

"Liam?" she asked again, less certain now.

He appeared to be confused. He squinted.

She could sense his tension. He might attack her yet.

Finally recognition dawned.

"Anna?" he asked in amazement.

"Yes?" she asked faintly.

He shook his head as if dismissing some thought or another, then let his gaze rest on the rip in her clothing.

Under his scrutiny she shifted uncomfortably, her hand shaking and grasping at the dress to keep it together.

He took a step toward her, and she stepped back, eying him nervously.

Thomas's advance had taken away her sense of reality, and this man's manner and shocking resemblance to her young master were proving difficult to comprehend.

He held up a hand in a sign of surrender, then removed the torn jacket to reveal a sleeveless shirt, equally torn.

He slowly reached out to her with the jacket in his hand, his eyes asking her to take it.

She stepped toward him, just close enough to reach out and accept it, then pulled it around her shoulders and buttoned the top button. The tear in the dress was covered.

"Who are you?" she asked, having decided that this man was not Liam, however much he looked like the young master.

"Angel," he said quietly, avoiding her eyes, "You can call me Angel."

"Angel," she repeated.

"What happened to Kathy?" he asked.

So he's been there the whole time.

"Are you related to her Sir?" Anna asked, trying to make some sense of the situation.

"Yes. What happened?" he replied instantly.

"I'm sorry Sir. She's been taken away."

"By who? No wait, I should be able to remember."

She remained silent as his brow furrowed in thought.

"The church . . ." he said slowly, "the temporal fold. Oh God, the demon girl in the church!"

"I'm sorry Sir?" Anna asked uncertainly.

He looked up at her obvious confusion.

"Nothing. Nothing," he said. He glanced over at Thomas in disgust. "You should go before he wakes," he muttered.

She remained where she was.

"Go."

"Do you need help Sir?"

"Go!"

Frightened by his tone she ran. Out into the sunlight and all the way home to her safe empty house.

What a terrible day.


LA, 2002.

"Do we suspect that Angel is in whatever time that girl came from then?" asked Gunn.

"Yes," said Wesley, feeling tired to the bone, "I just can't figure out why the temporal fold turned into a tunnel that led to Europe in the 1700's. It doesn't make sense."

"We know that Sahjahn had time traveling powers."

"Yes, and whatever he did to the portal made it far more powerful than we intended it to be. We had it aimed at 6 months ago. Somehow it led to a place 200 years ago on another continent. We had it aimed at Cordy. Somehow we brought young Katherine here instead."

"Didn't you say before that we couldn't bring a person here from the past? How'd little Kathy get here?"

It was Fred who answered, "They said they couldn't bring Cordy here 'cause they didn't have that kind of power Charles. I guess Sahjahn did. Right Wesley?"

"Right Fred" Wesley answered, collapsing into the closest armchair and resting his aching head on one hand.

Fred, Gunn and Connor all watched him nervously.

He was their best shot at getting Angel and perhaps Cordy back again. After two days of going through book after book, scroll after scroll, that one shot was not looking promising.

"I'm afraid the only one who might have known how to bring him back was Sahjahn." he said hopelessly.

"Little chance of bringin' him back here." Gunn stated, unnecessarily.

"I just wish Katherine had been able to give us more information." said Wesley, glancing up toward the second level where the girl was sleeping.

Connor glanced up too.

Kathy had proved to be an active little thing, despite her healing injuries, and had quickly made her way into the hearts of the whole Angel Investigations group.

They had been very careful not to frighten the girl after her ordeal, and had made it plain to her that they were doing everything they could to return her to her family.

As a result she was cheerful, if slightly worried. Certainly she did not seem to have been permanently scarred by her terrible ordeal.

Connor felt guilty. They had not lied to the child, but they had definitely led her to believe that she would be returning home soon. In reality it was looking less and less likely that they would ever find a way to send her back to where she belonged.

Kathy had been fascinated by everything 21st century. From the toaster to the bright purple slinky that Angel had bought for Connor before he had been taken to Quor Toth.

Connor had been delegated Kathy's watcher, and had spent an entire afternoon giggling with the girl as they sent the funny purple toy down the lobby stairs over and over again.

The girl's attitude was making Connor realize that he might have missed something growing up in Quor Toth.

She was truly young.

It made him feel lost.

She still did not have any proper clothes that fit.

Wesley had reflected that if Cordelia had been there, clothes would have magically become the group's first priority, no matter how many friends had been sucked into temporal folds.

But Cordelia was not there, and Kathy was still walking around in baggy T-shirts, and Connor's boxer shorts.

She didn't seem to mind much.

And there she was, sleepy eyed with tousled hair, and one hand stretching out as she yawned.

Connor and Wesley were the first two to notice her on the stairway.

Wesley nodded in the boy's direction.

Connor took the meaning and bounded up the stairs to meet the girl, leaving the rest of the group to their research.

"Good morning," he said pleasantly.

"Yes," she said, "a good mornin' it is. Do you think Wesley will be finding the way home today?"

Connor looked back over his shoulder to the tired group in the lobby.

"I hope so," he said. "I'd like my father back."

He was missing the vampire horribly.

If someone had told him three months ago that he'd be feeling this way, he would have laughed at them scornfully.

"What's your father like?" the girl asked curiously, sensing something odd in Connor's manner.

"He's tall." Connor answered in a flip way.

Kathy laughed.

"Do you want to play with the slinky?"

"No. I want to know about your father! You're all very fond of him. You're working very hard to find him."

She placed her hands on her hips.

Connor tried to stare her down but failed. He'd stared down Gulgar demons, but an eight year old was getting the better of him.

He let out a tired laugh.

"I have a picture of him somewhere." he admitted.

"A portrait?"

"No. It's called a photograph. They're very strange. They capture images."

"Oh really?"

"Yes."

Growing exited, Connor almost skipped as he led the way to him room. He was anticipating her reaction to the picture. Even he had responded with some wonder the first time he had seen a photograph.

She followed him into the room and sat on the bed, looking around at his things as he rummaged through a shoebox looking for the picture.

To Katherine, almost everything in the hotel looked strange.

From the kitchen appliances to the décor, all was alien to her.

As a result she did not perceive how odd Connor's room truly was.

It was a mismatched combination of baby toys, ancient weapons, tokens from dead demons, dirty washing and Connor's learning materials.

Connor did not perceive the oddness of the room either.

"My father is a silk merchant," she said, "he's very tall too."

"Mm hm," said Connor, still looking for the photo.

"My brother likes to draw portraits. He draws me sometimes."

"Yes?"

"Mmm. Father says it's a frivolous pastime. He thinks Liam should be doing other things."

"That's your brother? Liam?"

"Yes."

"Hmm. Oh I found it!"

He produced the photograph from the depths of the box.

He took the time to look at it himself before letting the girl see it.

It was one Fred had shown him.

The one with baby Connor in it.

He smiled, then turned it around to show Kathy.

Kathy looked with interest for a moment, then her face twisted in surprise.

"That can't be your father! That's Liam!" she cried.

She looked at Connor to see if this were some kind of joke.

The blood had drained from his face.

TBC.


Okay, I know a lot of people were wondering what the hell happened to Angel, I hope the answer was satisfying.

I'm not sure whether or not I will have Kathy meet Angel at any point, it's definitely a possibility, but we'll see. Don't worry though, there will definitely be some shocking revelations for Jim!

Thanks again to all the reviewers. As always, you guys rock!!!

This story was taken off the main page, and I'm not entirely sure why.

If anyone can give me the answer to that, or tell me how to get it back up, that would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers

Whiskey :)