Author : Wild-Melody

Disclaimer : I don't own it though I wish I did.

Warning : None

Ok, this one started throwing me for a loop, it might not be very good, but if this is the worst Chapter and you have my guarantee it will be, than I have done good! The rest of the Chapters should be smooth in writing, this was the only one I didn't really have planned out, so….I hope you like it…read on and enjoy and remember this was my problem child for the story J

Chapter 5

Angel Star backed away from the hard stares. "Who are you?" One of the men asked, with a British accent, so much like Mr. Giles. *That must be Wesley.* Angel Starr thought, looking him directly in the eyes. "Why have you come here?"

Angel Starr threw her tortured gaze to Angel, beseeching him for help, to come to her rescue. His dark eyes wouldn't meet her dark hazel ones, instead he looked over at the dark-skinned man that was just helping Cordelia up. "Is she alright?" Angel asked, slowing making his way towards Cordelia and the strange black man. The man nodded his head yes. "What did you see Cordelia?" Angel asked, stopping in front of her.

Cordelia's eyes sought out Angel Starr again. "Her." Was all she said. Her eyes became cold, dark sphere's of liquid glass, her glare freezing the young Slayer to her core. "I saw her and Buffy, standing together…" Her voice faded off as the vision flashed before her eyes once again. "I saw Buffy and Dawn standing at the top of a strange tower and Buffy jumping down into a dimensional vortex. She," Cordelia said, nodding her head at Angel Starr, "Was the last thing on Buffy's mind, along with sadness and betrayal…" The brunette turned haunted eyes up to Angel. "I think she betrayed Buffy in the end."

Angel's eyes did meet Starr's then, they were hard and cold, eyes of death. "Did you betray her?" He asked.

Starr violently shook her head, tears silently streaming down her face. "No, I didn't betray her. M-Buffy wouldn't let me near the battle ground's that day…she was afraid of something happening to me…" Her voice became a soft whisper. "I imagine each day that if only I had been there, there might have been something I could've done, someway I could've helped her so she didn't have to sacrifice her life to save Aunt Dawn's." She sniffed, her eyes staring down at the cold stone floor.

"Aunt Dawn?" Wesley questioned, looking curiously at the young girl.

Angel Starr's head shot up, she'd slipped! "Um yeah, Aunt Dawn…that's what she wanted me to call her. I don't know why, she just did. So did Willow and Tara, Xander didn't like the idea of being called Uncle, so I just called him 'The Weird Guy' or on occasions when he was really being a dork, which was most of the time, I just called him 'Uncle Dork', it usually really irritated him..." She tried to smile but it ended in a heartrending sob.

Cordelia smiled. "That sounds like Xander. Was he always trying to impress Buffy like usual…?" Her voice trailed off as she turned stricken eyes toward Angel. He must've not heard her or chose to ignore her statement, his eyes were still focused on the young girl. Cordy returned her brown-eyed gaze back to the young girl. Buffy Summers stared back at her and Cordy gasped and took a step backwards.

Buffy's face was mutilated and her eyes were haunting, staring accusingly at the would-be actress. Blood crusted around the edges of several cuts on her face and arms. Her cloths were tattered and dirty like she had just risen from her own grave…Cordy cried out in fear, closing her eyes tightly hoping that the disturbing vision would be gone once she opened them.

Wesley and Gunn standing beside her, each put a comforting hand on her shoulders. "Are you alright?" They both asked simultaneously. She opened her eyes a crack and glanced once more at the young girl. She was herself again, the image of Buffy was gone. Cordy drew in a shaky breath and nodded her head.

"Yeah, I'm ok," She said, "I just think I'm going to go and lie down for a bit."

Wesley looked at her curiously. "Are you sure your ok?"

She just nodded her head, smiling weakly at him. "Yeah, I'm sure. Don't worry about it, ok?" With that she turned and pretty much fled up the stairs.

Angel Starr nervously scuffed her foot against the floor, causing all eyes to focus on her once more. She looked up into each one of their faces. Wesley looked at her like she carried the plague; Angel had a thoughtful look on his face, her mother would've called it his brooding face, she almost laughed at the thought. Gunn, the black man, or at least she thought that was his name was, her mom had told her that Angel had a black guy working for him named Gunn, and so far this was the only black guy she had seen, he was staring at her like she was something poisonous. A young woman, *Probably a little older than mom would…* her thoughts trailed off, tears threatening to erupt from her clouding eyes once again.

She sniffled, trying to hold the tears at bay, Angel walked up to her and tenderly took her in his arms. His hand gently rubbed her back, caressing lazy circles across her tender back. "Sh," He said, his mouth near her ear. "It's alright, no one meant to scare or hurt you." He paused, drawing her back to arms length so he could get a good look into her eyes, they looked almost green from the tears. "We're all just still pretty upset about Buffy's death, then to have you thrown into our midsts, it's more than any of us bargained for." A slight smile graced his dark features.

She tried, but didn't succeed at smiling up at him. "I'm sorry," She managed to get out between threatening sobs. "I can go back if you think I'm going to be to much trouble." She offered, her voice small, hoping he wouldn't take her up on her offer yet at the same time wishing he would.

Angel shook his head, "No, Buffy wanted you here with me for a reason. She must've known something that the rest of us don't know yet, but we'll find it out, don't you worry." Angel said, looking over at Wesley and Gunn. Angel Starr noticed for the first time that another woman was standing further back, within the shadows, just behind the two men.

"Uh, yes." Wesley said, coughing discreetly into his closed fist. "First off, I guess we should get as much information as we can about you, shouldn't we?" He said, turning his attention fully on Angel Starr. "First, what do you know of your birth, your parents, anything that Buffy might have known that would point to what was of importance that you needed to be protected by the Slayer…er, one of them anyhow."

Angel Starr cleared her throat, "Um, both of them actually." She said, her voice just barely a whisper. Her eyes refused to meet anyones', not even Angel's.

"What do you mean?" Wesley asked, his eyes wide with shock. *There is something indeed extraordinary about this child.* He thought to himself.

"Faith died shortly before I was bo-er brought to Buffy, about three years ago, give or take a month or something like that-" Angel Starr started to say.

Angel interrupted with "Faith was here-" only to have Angel Starr interrupt him.

"Yes, I know." Angel Starr said. "Faith came here after she switched bodies with Buffy and everything was put back in it's original place…um yeah, something like that anyhow. Anyways, Faith ran from Mom, she chased her here, where you and she had a falling out. She accused you of taking Faith's side, you brought Faith back from the dark side or whatever, end of story….not quite. Faith continued to fight the forces of evil along side M-Buffy, until one tragic night the forces of evil got Faith. She didn't die right away, no she lingered in pain for quite a few weeks later, but her Slayer powers couldn't help her and she died in the end. I came into the picture a little later, but not much." Starr paused, catching her breath. "Shortly before that, Raine showed up in Sunnydale along with her Watcher Edna-" Starr was interrupted again but this time by Wesley.

"Thornington." Wesley said, finishing Starr's sentence for her.

Starr turned her near green eyes up to Wesley, looking his curiously in his light whiskey eyes. "You know Miss Thornington?" She asked.

"Not personally, but I do know of her from my time with the Council. She was as strict as what Giles was if not more…" Wesley looked darkly at Angel Starr, *What is it about this girl that seems so familiar, other than her uncanny resemblance to Buffy?* He wondered.

"Is something wrong?" Angel Starr asked, looking over at Angel. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No," Angel said, putting a comforting arm around the young girl's shoulders. "Wesley just doesn't like to think about his days with the Council." Was all Angel said.

"Oh, sort of like Mr. Giles then?" She asked, looking innocently at Angel than over at Wesley.

"Um, yes." Wesley said, if he had glasses like Giles, he probably would've removed them right then and started cleaning them, but since he didn't, he politely excused himself and left the discussion, many unanswered questions still careening around in his skull. He'd get the answers to them sometime later.

Angel Starr glanced over at Gunn and the strange woman standing behind him. "I know your name is Gunn, but I don't recall Mom saying anything about any other girls other than Cordy." Her hazel eyes looked over up at Angel, standing right beside her, both his arms back down to his sides. "Who is she?"

"That is Fred-" Angel began.

"Fred? As in boy's name Fred?" Angel Starr started to say. "Who in their right mind would name a girl Fred, who for that fact in their left mind would? Fred is a guy's name, not a girls." Angel Starr looked at the closed guarded look on both Gunn's and Fred's faces. *Oops,* She thought, *Open mouth and insert foot now.* Her cheeks turned a bright shade of crimson.

"My actual name is Winifred, Fred is just a nick name because I don't like my real name." Fred answered, staring the young up-start girl right in the face. "And who for that fact would name their daughter Angel Starr? Hippie parents?" Fred asked, suddenly looking up at Angel and blushing four shades of red. "Um, sorry Angel, no insult intended."

"Actually, Buffy gave me the name." Angel Starr said, which was really the truth, more than they would ever know. "I didn't know what my name was when I arrived in Sunnydale…Buffy thought I was an Angel sent from heaven to help her through tough times, I never understood quite what she meant up until now," Her hazel stare fell on Angel, and it was his turn to turn away from her. "The night she found me a shooting Starr streaked across the midnight sky, that's where she came up with the middle name from." Technically it was the truth, Angel Starr had been sent down from heaven to help Buffy through the times to come, and right after the infant's birth, a bright red star had gone streaking across the pitch-black skies.

"Oh," Was all Fred said.

X x X x X x X x X x X x

"I don't trust her," Cordy said, looking into Wesley's eyes. "I don't care if Buffy sent her here or not, I don't trust her! There is something way beyond weird about that girl, even way beyond the weird that was Buffy." Cordy shook her head, trying to either clear her thoughts or put them in order. Wesley sat down on her bed next to her, keeping a respectful distance between their bodies. He'd come up to check on her after he left the uncomfortable conversation going on downstairs, Cordy had been staring at her reflection in the mirror, just staring at it.

"I think I may just go home tonight…" Cordy said, looking away from Wesley, turning her gaze instead down to the floor. "I really don't want to be in the same building as that….girl." She finally settled on saying.

"You want to go home to your own apartment?" Wesley asked, looking at her incredulously. "We all agreed to stay here until things were back to what can be called normal for this city. Or at least until Fred gets adjusted and Angel is truly over Buffy's death."

"Be that as it may, I really don't wanna stay here with that freak of nature." Cordy said, actually lifting her face up and looking him in the eyes. "There really is something not right about that girl. Have you really looked at her? I MEAN really looked at her?" Wesley nodded his head, unsure of where this conversation was heading. "Wesley, she looks almost like Buffy! Her hair is a little darker and so are her eyes, but she's there. A little younger granted, but the girl looks like she could be Buffy's sister if not her daughter!"

End of Part 5

Getting good yet? The story is not exactly turning out the way I planned it, and this was not how I planned for this Chapter to go, or end, but it's still very good and I'm changing things around as I go to accommodate what is actually happening on the TV series, but it won't precisely follow along with the scripts for the series, Buffy and Angel will be getting together in the end, in one way or another as will a few other unmentioned couples but I'll wait and see if you can guess who they might be….

Hope you enjoyed

Your friend ~Angel~