[Disclaimer: I do not own what Joss Whedon created. If I did, there'd be some changes around here, let me tell you. Evil, evil creature that Joss is...]

Author's Note:

Okay, I got this idea in class and spent my Maths period writing it in my notebook instead of studying (and since I have exams, like, the week after next, this is not a good thing). So, I hope you're all grateful for my extra time, and like the story.

Surprise!

Chapter One: Mommy? Daddy?

Summary: Cordelia Chase and Angel get one hell of a surprise, in the form of four year old Genevieve Liam, from the future. Set back after Evil Vampy Willow made her appearance. Say, next day or so. Might get slightly AU in places.

by Adele Elisabeth

Cordelia groaned, and sat up, fumbling for her alarm clock.

And then there was a blinding light, and the sound of a little girl, crying.

Cordelia sat bolt upright, staring at the little girl on the end of her bed. Who hadn't been there like, five seconds ago. To her surprise, the girl looked a lot like her at that age.

"Mommy?" the little girl asked, then looked relieved. "Mommy, I'm so glad you're here. I tripped and landed in Aunt Willow's little picture on the floor and there was this light and it was scary, I promise I'll never try and peek when you're all working and everything, I promise--"

"Hold it right there, kiddo. Who are you?" Cordelia asked, more curious than afraid. For crying out loud, it was a girl who couldn't be near school-age, and, to top it off, thought that she, Cordelia Chase, was her mother.

"What do you mean, Mommy? Is this a new game? I don't like it."

"No game. Seriously."

"Genevieve Liam, but you know that, you named me. Where are we?"

"My room, my house, in Sunnydale. California."

"Sunnydale?" Genevieve stared, dismayed. "But we aren't going to Sunnydale 'til next week!"

"Maybe we should go talk to Giles..." Cordelia sighed, getting out of bed.

"Uncle Rupert," Genevieve gratefully latched onto something that made sense. "Uncle Rupert knows lots of things. He'll fix it."

"Okay, whatever you say..."

"Giles! Giles!" Cordelia strode into the library, Genevieve on her hip. The little tyke was really tired, and by this time Cordelia had coaxed enough information out of her to believe her. And she kept getting this weird feeling of getting somebody else's memories, and remembering events that hadn't yet happened. She could remember being pregnant with Genevieve (and her twin brother, Owen), but that wouldn't happen for years. And whenever she tried to see who the father was...the scene shifted.

"Yes, Cordelia?" Giles walked up to meet her, and stopped, staring.

"Uncle Rupert!" Genevieve exclaimed, happily. "Why didn't Mommy remember me, Uncle Rupert? It's my birthday today and Mommy always has a surprise for me. I guess I must be in trouble for interrupting Aunt Willow's spell..."

"Spell?" Giles asked, bemused.

"Let me talk to...umm, Uncle Rupert, 'kay Gen?" Cordelia set Genevieve down. "Go and wait for Mommy on one of those chairs at the table."

"Mmkay. When's Daddy coming?"

"I...I..." Cordelia stopped. This was beyond her.

Giles, who was a little faster on his feet, quickly put in, "He's busy just now, we don't know when he'll be back."

"Oh. Okay." Genevieve nodded, and ambled over to her chair.

Then Giles turned to Cordelia. "What's going on?"

"I wake up, right, and there's this blinding light and a little girl in tears is on my bed. She starts calling me 'Mommy' and apologising for tripping in 'Aunt' Willow's spell, and promising she won't peek at work anymore. On the way over here, I got her to talk to me some more, and apparently she has a brother named Owen, and we all live in L.A. And...and I keep getting these weird memories I didn't have before, of stuff that hasn't happened, or hasn't happened yet. Of getting married, and of being pregnant with Genevieve and Owen, and of attending -your- wedding, to that Anya girl." Cordelia rambled on, still confused. "And it's weird, because...because I believe her, I do. She must be like...from the future?"

"A reasonable theory." Giles nodded, thoughtfully. "Memories of the future?"

"Yeah. So I went along with what Gen said and made like I remembered it all and it was just a bit of a misunderstanding. Only now, now I do remember stuff. I just don't know who it is I'm married to. Will be married to. It'd be kind of helpful."

Angel came out of the depths of the bookshelves, holding a pile of books. He'd been researching the gypsy curse.

"Daddy!" Genevieve exclaimed.

"No. Way." Cordelia stated.

Angel looked confused, and Giles mildly stunned.

"Angel? Come into my office, thank you, I'll summarise what Cordelia was saying to me. I think you should hear it. Cordelia...just..."

"View it as parenting practice. Gotcha." Cordelia flashed him her 100-megawatt smile and headed over to Genevieve, who was looking after Angel with a confused look on her face.

"...and from Genevieve's reaction to you--"

"You think I must be her father. In the future." Angel finished.

Giles nodded. "It's not exactly something I'm sure of, mind you, but from what Cordelia tells me, it seems reasonable."

"Cordelia. I marry Cordelia Chase and live in L.A in the future?"

"Apparently."

"Am I the only one seeing a problem with this?"

"Cordelia didn't seem very impressed with that idea, either." Giles admitted. "If her 'no way' was to be interpreted that way. She seems quite taken with Genevieve, though."

"I noticed that."

"Surprisingly so. In any case, we shouldn't keep the poor child waiting too long. She doesn't understand what's happened to her. As far as she's concerned, she's in her own time. She keeps calling me Uncle Rupert."

Angel shrugged, and walked out of the office, to find Cordelia sitting on the floor with Genevieve in her lap, telling her a story. "...and the princess--"

"Whose name was Cordy."

"Whose name was Cordy," Cordelia agreed, "lived in a beautiful palace, in a land far, far away. She was the most beautiful princess in all the land--"

"And loved a handsome prince."

"That's right, she did. What was the prince's name?" Cordelia spared Angel a glance, and a tentative half-smile. He just watched, and she shrugged.

"Liam." Genevieve answered immediately.

Angel narrowed his eyes at the little girl, who seemed to notice. She looked quickly at Cordelia. "Why is Daddy mad at me, Mommy?"

"Daddy's not mad, he's just...he's upset about something else, and I'm sure he's really sorry that you think he's mad at you. Isn't he?" she prompted Angel, who nodded, resignedly. "On with the story. So, Princess Cordy loves a handsome prince named Prince Liam. What do you think happens next?"

"Princess Cordy thinks Prince Liam is in love with a different princess." Genevieve told her mother, very seriously, in the tones of someone who has heard this story before. Cordelia, on the other hand, looked lost, and was trying to get Genevieve to steer her in the right direction.

"That's right, she does. What's the other princess's name?"

"Princess Buffy." Genevieve replied, leaning her head on Cordelia's shoulder. "I like this story."

"Me too. So, Princess Cordy thinks Prince Liam loves Princess Buffy. So...she's feeling pretty down about this, right?" Cordelia was starting to have some suspicions at this point.

"Right. Prince Liam is her bestest friend, though, so she's not going to..." Genevieve faltered, but Cordelia picked up the thread.

"She's not going to risk losing him as a friend, so she doesn't tell him that she loves him. She pretends to hope that he and Princess Buffy will work things out?"

"That's it! But Prince Liam--"

"Really loves Princess Cordy." Angel was starting to get into the spirit of things, sitting down with them. When he was much, much younger, he used to like telling stories to his younger sister.

"Yeah," Cordelia nodded, trying to remember the vague future-memories she'd been getting. "But one day...one day Princess Cordy can't take it anymore."

"She storms out of Prince Liam's palace, and goes home to her palace." Genevieve supplied.

"And Prince Liam consults his best friend, Prince..." Now it was Angel's turn to falter.

Genevieve looked suspiciously at him, but put in anyway, "Prince Wesley. And Prince Wesley tells him how Princess Cordy must be feeling sort of like worried that maybe Prince Liam is only her friend because she's a princess, and if she wasn't a princess, he wouldn't want to be her friend anymore."

"But Prince Liam knows he really needs his best friend," Angel continued, being led only by instinct, "So he goes to her palace."

"But Princess Cordy tells him to go away, because she doesn't want him to break her heart." Cordelia went on, smiling encouragingly at Angel. "She's been there before, and she doesn't want her heart to get trampled on again. And she knows she shouldn't have these sorts of feelings for her best friend, who loved somebody else."

"But Prince Liam is starting to realise that maybe he loves Princess Cordy more than just a friend, that he needs her." Angel said, blinking as he was accosted by future-memories.

"And then...he tells her that he loves her." Genevieve grinned triumphantly.

"And they live happily ever after?" Cordelia queried, softly. That story sounded too good to be true.

"Well...sort of bumpily ever after." Genevieve conceded. "You told it differently this time, but it's still my favorite-est story in the whole wide world."

"Yeah." Cordelia fell silent, just staring off into space, lost in her own thoughts. That story sounded a lot like the stories she used to tell herself when she was little, but not quite. In her story, she was Princess Cordy, and there was a handsome Prince Charming who swept her off her feet and carried her off to his palace in the sky. She had a wistful smile on her face as she thought of this.

"Mommy?" Genevieve's voice intruded her make-believe world. "Mommy, can we get something to eat? I'm hungry."

Maternal instincts, which had been making themselves known, kicked in. "When did you last eat?" Cordelia asked, concerned.

"Well...Auntie Anya gave me some biscuits a little before the spell, and I had some of Uncle Rupert's tea..." Genevieve hesitated.

"That was hours ago!" Cordelia exclaimed, standing up. "You should have said something, sweetie." She paused. "I think we should tell you something, Genevieve. Lying's not my style."

"Mommy...?"

"I'm not your mommy, not yet, anyway. Genevieve, this, this present is my present, but it's not yours. You're not born yet back here. You're from the future, honey, and I'm sure I must be -- the future me -- really worried about you. Your daddy, too."

Giles had been in the room for some time, and whatever he and Angel had been expecting Cordelia to say, that wasn't it.

But Genevieve took it remarkably well. "I wondered why everyone was acting so strange. This must be because of that spell, right?"

"That's right." Giles told her, moving forward.

"And we're going to do everything we can to send you back your own time, so that your parents don't have to worry. Not that I wouldn't love for you to stay--"

Now that surprised Giles.

"--but because I know the future-me must really miss you, because she -- I -- loves you so much."

Genevieve nodded.

"In the meantime, I'll bet you didn't pack for your trip, so after we get lunch, we'll hit the mall. Maybe you can even take your new clothes home with you when Uncle Rupert--" here she gave Giles an impish grin, a surprisingly honest expression, "--sends you back."

Genevieve paused, looking at Angel. "Does this mean you and Daddy aren't...aren't living together, or anything?"

"Angel's with Buffy." Cordelia hoped she didn't sound too...curt? Jealous? Not that she was jealous, or anything, because she wasn't, but because...well, happy couples right now were not high on her list of favorite things. In fact, they didn't even make the list. Xander Harris...her fists clenched involuntarily. "So, while we're shopping, he's going to go and explain to her about you."

"I am?" Angel looked at her, shock evident.

"I sure aren't." Cordelia stated coolly. "In any case, Genevieve, we are officially cutting class. Giles, can you tell Snyder I have some weird disease or my aunt died or something? I need an excuse to get out of school for as long as necessary. I mean, I'll drop by as many classes as I can, if I can find trustworthy babysitters, but seriously, I'm going to be a whole lot more relaxed if I've got Gen with me."

Giles was just as startled as Angel by Cordelia's sudden take-charge attitude. Mostly she just sat around and sniped, but now...this was a whole new side to Cordelia Chase. Giles suspected he'd best enjoy it while it lasted, as she only ever showed PublicCordy to anyone. Under normal (for the Hellmouth) circumstances.

Cordelia swept out of the library, taking Genevieve with her.

"Better go talk to Buffy..." Angel muttered weakly.

I, Cordelia Chase, am a Mom. A good mom, too, if Genevieve's to be believed.

It was a scary thought.

Not that I couldn't be a good mom, or anything.

Cordelia had always had this secret fear that if she ever had children, she'd be like her own mother -- bad at it. Her parents were never there, and when they were, they didn't give a damn about her. She always had the impression she had been an accident, and one they only kept because they had no other reasonable option. Cordelia wrapped herself up in being perfect on the outside, because on the inside...

Well, it didn't bear thinking about.

"Mommy?" Genevieve piped up. Cordelia had had a maid search out her old car-seat from when she was Genevieve's age, and it had worn remarkably well. Cordelia had put Genevieve in the backseat, as she'd read somewhere it was safer for children to be in the back.

"Yes, hon?" her eyes never left the road.

"Can we get an ice-cream after lunch?"

Cordelia gave a little laugh. She'd been expecting a more meaningful question, to be honest, but this was fine. "Maybe. How about we eat lunch, then go shopping, and then we can get an ice-cream and go to the park?"

"You have the best ideas, Mommy."

"You bet I do, kiddo."

"Where is she?" Buffy clenched her fists. Cordelia Chase steals her man? Not bloody likely!

"She and Genevieve went out for lunch and shopping." Angel replied, sighing and running a hand through his hair. "It gave me a bit of turn, Buffy, but please, stop looking so betrayed. I'm in love with you, Buffy Summers, not Cordelia Chase."

"For now."

"No, for as long as y-we live."

"So, you married her after I died?"

"Maybe I did." Angel flared, suddenly. Buffy had been acting like a spoiled little brat who'd just been told to share ever since he tried to talk to her about this, and it wasn't fair. Couldn't she see that this was hard for him, too? He didn't ask for any of this. And right now, he didn't need Buffy contributing to it.

Buffy recoiled as if he'd struck her. "How can you say that? How dare you?"

"Buffy...I'm tired. This is not my fault. I haven't done anything wrong. You're acting as though I've done something awful behind your back, and it's not fair. I didn't ask for this, and neither did Cordelia." He sighed again, with unneeded breath. "You're behaving as if this is some personal insult, Buffy."

Buffy stared at him, then deflated somewhat. "You're right, of course you're right. I'm sorry, Angel, you just threw me for a loop with this."

He gave a faintly bitter laugh. "Guess how I feel."

Buffy cuddled into his arms. "It'll be okay."

Cordelia would have given anything for someone to say that to her, right then. She was at the park with Genevieve, eating ice-cream (well, Cordelia opted for a low-fat frozen yoghurt, but still). She was starting to get really worried -- what if something went wrong? What if she was terrible as a parent and something happened to Genevieve and it was all her fault? This was all just too much for her...

No. Cordelia Chase held her head up high and got by. Nothing would bring her down, nothing. This was her chance to prove that she could do something right, and feel what it was like to be in a family, to be loved.

Cordelia had met Joyce Summers. She'd bet good money Buffy didn't realise what a treasure her mother was.

It was nearly quarter to four when Cordelia realised how long they'd been out. "Gen, hon, we're going to go and check in with Giles, and then we should probably get home."

"Okay." Genevieve nodded. Cordelia took her hand, and they made their way back to the car.

Cordelia dialed Giles's home-number on her cellphone, though she couldn't be sure he'd be there.

"Giles?" she tried not to sound too relieved that she'd gotten him when the phone was picked up. In the back, Genevieve was dozing.

"No, this is Xander."

Cordelia froze. "Put Giles on." She said, icily.

"I heard about you and Angel having a dau--"

"I said, put Giles on. Now." Cordelia's tone could have frozen the ocean.

Xander, evidently giving up, said a faint, "Sure," and then the phone was handed off. She waited, not too patiently, as she drove, cellphone between her ear and shoulder.

"Cordelia?" it was Angel. "I'm sorry, Giles is sort of busy at the moment."

"Let me guess, cryBuffy had some sort of crisis, or he's in the toilet."

There was uncomfortable silence. "Er...the second one."

Cordelia wanted to laugh. She really did, bizarrely enough. But she didn't. "Okay. I was just calling to check in and see if I could drop by before I took Genevieve home. And...and I thought we should probably work something out."

There was another of those silences. "What do you mean?" Angel said, slowly.

Realisation dawned. "Not like that, dork. I meant...Genevieve's not just my daughter. Don't you want to get to know her too? I thought maybe you could come over and...y'know, hang out with her a bit." She frowned. "Though...that wouldn't really work, because when you're out, she'll be asleep, and when she's out, if you went out, you'd be Kentucky Fried Vamp. I could...I could bring her over to your apartment, and you could have her for an hour or two."

Angel was, to be frank, astonished. At first he thought she meant work something out...like, making the two of them an 'us', and then he thought she meant she wanted to make him take care of Genevieve, but she was being...thoughtful. Considerate.

"I mean, Genevieve needs a father just as much as she needs a mother, and we don't know how long she'll be here. Look, I'm just about at Giles' place, we can discuss it when I get there. Ciao."

And before he could reply, she'd hit 'end'.

"Mommy?" a half-asleep Genevieve yawned.

"Yup?"

"Are we there yet?"

"Just about, just about."

"I think she'll make a really good mother." Angel said quietly, as Xander made yet another crack about Cordelia and parenting not mixing.

"How would you know?" Xander challenged.

"How would you?" Angel countered, unsure of why he was defending the brunette. "Have you seen her with Genevieve? Have you seen the way she is with her, or the way she's been acting?"

"No, but I know Cordelia."

"Maybe you don't. Maybe you just know what she lets you see."

"Cordelia--"

"--is here. Hello, Xander." Cordelia greeted him coldly, moving into the living room. "Angel...umm, okay, now this is going to sound weird, but are you a good cook, or has that not happened yet? And if you are, can you teach me? Genevieve said you always make her the best eggs for breakfast and I wanted to make her some myself. Only I've never actually been allowed in the kitchen. I can make coffee and tea, that's about it."

Startled by this latest development (though Angel was fast learning that Cordelia was full of surprises), Angel just nodded. "Yeah...sure."

"Speaking of," Cordelia moved back into the hallway, and came back with Genevieve, who had been using the bathroom. "This is--"

"I know them all, Mommy, remember? I told you. They just don't know me yet." Genevieve reminded her.

Xander, Buffy and Willow waited for the nasty retort that would leave the little girl in tears.

It never came.

"Sorry, sweetie, I'm just all tired out from our long day. Must be not thinking right." Cordelia smiled down at her. "Well...guys, this is Genevieve Angelica Liam."

"Hi." Willow smiled at the little girl, who offered her one in return.

"Yeah. Hi." Xander mumbled.

Buffy just nodded curtly.

Genevieve looked worriedly up at her mother and then went and climbed into Angel's lap, her big brown eyes shining with trust and an innate belief that Daddy Would Make Everything Better.

Angel couldn't help but smile down at her. Cordelia slid into the chair next to him, looking uncomfortable, but comfortable at the same time. This was as close to family as she would get for many years, and she knew it.

"Angel...? We going to finish our conversation?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Right, yes, we are." Angel set Genevieve down, and stood up. "Er...Willow? Could you watch Genevieve while Cordelia and I talk?"

Cordelia silently approved of his choice. Willow looked quickly at her, and there was a miniscule nod. Feeling oddly relieved, Willow held out her hands. "We could see if Giles has some paper and pencils? Do you like to draw?"

Buffy and Xander both looked suspiciously at Angel and Cordelia as they left the room.

"You're right," Angel said, as soon as they were in the kitchen (Giles had met them coming the other way, and gave them both their drinks (a coffee for Cordelia, pig's blood for Angel), and went out to the living room).

"About?" she asked, sipping her coffee.

"About how I should spend some time with Genevieve. She's my responsibility as well."

"No child wants to be thought of as a responsibility. If you're only doing if because you feel responsible, don't bother." Cordelia snapped, then cursed silently. That had been too close to the bone.

"That's not what I meant," Angel objected, and ran a hand through his hand. "I do want to get to know Genevieve. I didn't mean it to sound that way."

Her eyes softened, but her stance was still defensive. "I..." She stopped, afraid of breaking down. This was all just too much, too soon.

"Are you all right?"

Looking up, Cordelia was surprised to see that there was concern in Angel's eyes, and she heard it in his tone, too. All these thoughts of family had highlighted her own family's short-comings. It was hard to think about. "I'm fine," she lied quickly, hoping it was convincing.

"You don't believe that any more than I do." Angel stated. When she wasn't being 'Cordy Chase, Bitch-Queen of Sunnydale', and wasn't keeping her emotions in check, they showed easily on her face. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She almost laughed at that. "Angel...number one, Buffy already wants my blood, and number two, you're not exactly Mr New-Age Sensitive Guy."

"Maybe I'm not--"

"You're definitely not."

Ignoring her interruption, he continued, "--but you can still talk to me."

After a long, searching look at his face, she sighed, and gave in. "Okay." She took a deep breath, before saying, "Look, my family's not like Buffy's. Sure, I've got both my parents, but they don't give a damn about me. Joyce Summers really loves her daughter, whereas my parents just give me money and ignore me. Daddy's never home, and Mom's never sober. This is like...this is my chance to feel what it's like to be in a family. To be loved. Genevieve loves me...I feel like if I have to have you in the picture too much, it'll ruin it. Because you don't love me. You don't fit into my perfect scenario. While it was just me and Genevieve today, I could pretend like the father was just...out of the picture. And it was great, and I loved it. But I don't want Buffy ruining my perfect scenario by pushing her way in because she doesn't want you left alone with me because she thinks I'm going to steal you, using Genevieve as bait or something. My family's not perfect, hell, it's barely a family. I don't want anything to spoil this, because it'll be years until it's a reality. This is all I get until then." Tears stung her eyes, and Angel wasn't sure what to do. So he did the first thing he thought of -- pulled her into his arms and muttered reassuring nothings.

They were like that a long time, before Cordelia went to the bathroom to clean herself up (tears left mascara tracks down her cheeks). When she came back, she was all business. "So...I'll bring her by your apartment sometime?"

"Right." He nodded.

"I'll get your phone-number, and call you first." She said, before heading out into the living room.

Bemused, Angel followed her.

***

Author's Note:

Okay, this was fun to write. I should have another chapter along soon.

No witty little bit on the end of the Author's Note, sigh...