Title: Family: Back to Sunnydale
Author: victoriamartynne
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Spoilers: None, I think!
Summary: Imagine if Connor had never been taken by Wesley, Xander and Anya had never split up and Angel had told Cordelia how he felt. Cordelia gets a phone call that leads her back to Sunnydale and back to the past.
They reached Kathryn's house within no time. They stood huddled under the trees out of sight from the house.
"Okay, so what do we do?" Buffy asked no-one in particular.
"We need to find out whether they've gone to bed or not yet." Wesley said and tried to see whether there was any movement in the lower part of the house.
"Their bedroom is around the back, upstairs." Cordelia said and then thought for a moment. "But Morgan's room is around the side on the ground floor. I could sneak around to the window and ask her where they are."
Giles nodded. "That sounds like a good plan. But be quiet and run if you get seen."
"Why don't I go?" Buffy suggested. "I have the slayer strength and I can run faster.
"We're not breaking in with a tree trunk. I'm tapping on the window and waiting until she comes to me. She trusts me." Cordy argued impatiently.
"Be careful." Angel said and gave her a warning look.
She understood and nodded.
She ran quietly around the side of the house until she saw Morgan's window. The light was on inside so she tapped on the glass gently.
"Morgan, it's Cordelia. Don't be scared, it's only me. I just want to talk."
She gasped when she saw Morgan's tiny face at the window. Her skin was bruised and her lip was bleeding. "Morgan, what happened? When did he get you?"
"Ray hit me and he wouldn't stop." She said and then started to cry. "He said that me and Jake were spying on mommy. He locked me and Jake in our rooms and we can't get out."
"Where's Jake's room? Next to yours?" Cordelia asked quickly.
The girl nodded and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
"Stay here. I'm coming back fro you, okay?" Cordelia promised.
She crept further around the house to the next window. "Jake?" She called out. "It's Cordelia, I've come to let our out."
The little boy was sobbing uncontrollably. "I want my mommy!" He wailed.
"I know sweetie." She soothed and then raised her arms to lift him out of the window. "We'll see if we can find your mommy for you but we need to get you out of here first." She promised and scooped the boy off the window ledge.
His arms and legs instantly wrapped around her.
She carried him back around to Morgan's window and heard the sound of a door breaking upstairs and a roar of some kind. "Morgan, come on quickly!"
The girl clambered onto the ledge and swung herself to the floor with Cordelia's help.
She quickly grabbed hold of Cordelia's hand. They began to run around the house as Morgan's door was broken open from the outside. Cordelia turned around and gasped. Her father looked out of the window. His face was blue and his hair was now red but his features were the still the same. He saw Cordelia and the children stood there and breathed fire at them.
Morgan screamed and Jake just cried harder.
"Come on!" Cordelia shouted and dragged Morgan behind her as she ran back towards where the others were still hiding.
"What happened?" Buffy asked as Cordelia appeared.
"It's happened." She breathed heavily, Jake still in her arms clinging onto her neck.
"He beat Morgan up before and then he locked her and Jake in their rooms. My father is now blue and has red hair and he can breathe fire."
"You didn't stop to fight him?" Buffy asked.
"I thought that seen as though I had two children with me who were scared and upset I thought I would maybe get them out of there instead of stopping to get myself killed!" She shouted angrily to the slayer.
"Cordy, it's okay." Wes said and picked Morgan up. "We'll go back to the Magic Box and figure out ways to stop him."
"To kill him." Cordelia clarified, a hard look on her face. "He was a monster before he changed, I'm not letting him hurt anyone else. This ends as soon as we find out how."
They took the children back to the Magic Box where Anya, Willow and Lorne were waiting with Connor.
Anya's eyes widened when she saw the children. "More children. Why do we have more children? Was there another prophecy or a fire at the orphanage?"
Xander shot her a look and she shut up.
"Giles, have you got a first aid kit?" Cordelia asked him.
He nodded and went to fetch it.
Cordelia and Wesley put the children down on the couch together. Cordelia knelt down in front of them. Angel squeezed her shoulder and then left her to it.
"Morgan, do you want a drink or anything? Jake?" She asked them both.
They shook their heads.
Giles brought her the first aid kit and went to stand with the other Scoobies, who were all watching her curiously.
"Morgan, I need to clean up those cuts on your face, okay?" She said gently, she didn't want to alarm her or frighten her any more than she already was. "I won't hurt you."
"Did Ray hit you too?" Jake asked quietly, his eyes wide in shock.
"Yes he did." She gulped.
"He hit me too sometimes." Jake confided.
Cordelia nodded and applied a little of the antiseptic to Morgan's face. She flinched when the girl did. "I'm sorry."
It only took a few minutes to clean up her face. Morgan looked a little better without all the dried blood on her face but she still looked pale and she had dark bruises around her eyes.
She left them while she went across to where the AI gang were sat.
Angel instantly wrapped her arms around her and let her lean against him in comfort.
Tears escaped her eyes as she thought of what her father had done to them and now to himself. He murmured comforting words into her hair.
"You need to get some sleep baby." He told her.
Giles came across and gave Fred a cup of tea for her.
"I can't sleep." She told him back. "What if he comes after them? We don't know what he's capable of now that he's a demon."
"We could take them back to the mansion with us." He suggested. "There'll be plenty of firepower if he comes anywhere near."
She pulled back to look at him. "Could we?" She wiped her eyes as he nodded and she took the tea off Fred with a smile.
"Is Connor okay?" She turned to Lorne to ask.
"He sure is Princess. He's sleeping in the back. Only took a couple of minutes to get him down." Lorne promised. "Poor little guy was all tuckered out.
Buffy came across to the AI team.
"What's the plan?" She addressed Angel.
"We're going back to the mansion and we'll start on it again in the morning." Angel replied. "You should go home and we'll meet you here in the morning, about nine."
"What are you doing with the children?" She asked.
"They're coming home with us." Cordelia told her and then pulled herself out of Angel's arms to go and talk to Morgan and Jake.
"Cordelia's changed Buffy." Angel said to her. "I saw you watching her earlier. She's changed from what she was back in school. She's been forced to grow up and take responsibility. It hasn't been easy on her."
"And it's been easy on me?" Buffy snapped. "I died! And you weren't there."
"Is that what's bothering you? Well, listen to me Buffy. You did die, and I did come. But you're not the only person in my life. I have Cordelia and my son and my family. You need to stop living in the past." He didn't shout he just spoke forcefully. The words hit home and the slayer ran out of the shop before he or anyone else could say anything.
Willow followed her just as Cordelia brought the children across.
Lorne came back with Connor and they said goodbye to the remaining Scoobies and went back to the mansion.
Gunn and Fred made up beds for Morgan and Jake with the spare blankets they'd found in one of the cupboards in the bedroom while Cordelia and Angel went upstairs to take care of Connor.
Lorne insisted on making hot chocolate for everyone and laced all of them except Cordelia and the children's with vodka.
Cordelia and Angel came downstairs. Cordelia looked very tired and Wesley suspected, with a smile, that Angel had insisted that she go to bed but she had refused. Although they argued a lot everyone could tell that they were crazy about each other.
Angel flopped down onto a small beaten sofa dragging Cordy down with him who instantly curled herself around him, resting her head on his chest. She accepted the mug of hot chocolate gratefully.
"Morgan and Jake are fast on already." Fred told them after checking on them in the other room.
"Good." Cordelia sighed. "I could kill my dad for doing what he did to them."
"That approach might be quite useful later on." Wesley pointed out. "I might hit the books and find out what the Creator actually does."
"What about Kathryn? Rakhnah, whatever, what happens to her now that the ritual is over?" Fred asked.
"I don't know." Angel replied. "Maybe one of us should check it out in the morning. See if there is any sign of her."
"I'll go." Gunn offered. "I'll pick up some coffee and doughnuts while I'm out."
"Sounds good to me, but I really need to go to bed." Cordelia yawned and then got up from the sofa. "Stay here if you want." She said to Angel and then kissed him.
She checked on Morgan and Jake before going upstairs.
"What are we gonna do with the kids once the Creator is killed?" Gunn asked. "And if their mom stays as a demon? I mean, is she a good demon or a bad demon? In my book, a demon that can create something as bad as this dude is not gonna be Mary Poppins."
"I have no idea." Angel admitted. "I think Cordy feels responsible for them because she feels a bond with them. Her father used to beat her up when she was younger and she feels that now he's doing it to them she should have been able to stop it. She'll probably want to take them back to LA with us if Kathryn is evil and needs to be killed. The hotel's going to turn into a day care centre." He groaned and then got up to go upstairs.
"Yeah, but you'll love it." Lorne called as he made his way up the stairs. "Just think about it kids, once Angel thought that he'd never have kids and now he's going to have four of them!"
The gang laughed.
"I heard that!" Angel shouted down.
Cordelia was sleeping by the time he got into bed. She sensed him get into bed or felt the bed shift and rolled over to wrap her arms around him. "I love you."
They awoke in the morning to Connor crying. A glance at her watch told her it was only six am. They'd only had about four hours sleep. She groaned as she swung her legs out of bed.
"I'm coming honey. Mommy's coming."
She walked over to the crib and picked him up. "What are you crying about, huh? Don't you know how early it is?"
She took him back to the bed and put him in the middle before climbing back in. "Morning." Angel said to them both. "What time is it?"
"Six am." She replied. "He sure likes to keep us on our toes."
"Just wait while we've got two of them to chase around." He smiled.
Cordelia groaned. "They'll both be crawling around the place, screaming at night, bumping their heads, being sick.Speaking of."
Cordelia ran to the bathroom with the first morning sickness of the day. She bumped into a sleepy looking Fred on the way an only just managed a hastily shouted sorry as she ran past.
"What's up?" Gunn asked from his position half on the sofa and half off. "Barbie got sick again?"
"She is pregnant." Fred scolded him for making fun of her.
She emerged ten minutes later looking a little rough around the edges. Her hair was stuck up and her brow had beads of sweat on it.
"Morning sickness is a bitch." She said simply and went back up to Angel.
"Is it getting to you honey?" He asked worriedly.
"It's bearable." She smiled. "I survived killer visions more than once; a little morning sickness isn't going to bring me down."
"I love you for this."
"Only this?" She teased. "Can't you possibly think of another reason?"
"I'm sure that at a push I could." He teased back and then laid a hand on her stomach. "It's amazing isn't it?"
"It sure is." She agreed.
Gunn went to Kathryn's house before everyone else had even got up. When he got back Fred went to make the children's breakfast and Wesley went to the Magic Box to talk to Giles about possible theories.
Angel came to meet Gunn to find out what was going on. Cordelia had fallen back to sleep.
"Kathryn has gone. All her stuff is still there so she hasn't skipped but she wasn't in the house. You think maybe she went after Cordy's pop?" Gunn asked.
"I don't know, she could have." Angel ran a hand through his hair. "I'm going to go to the Magic Box through the sewers. Lorne is stopping with the children. Wait for Cordy. When she wakes up tell her where I am. Don't let her do anything that'll hurt her or the baby."
"Sure thing." He patted Angel on the shoulder as he left.
Angel came into the Magic Box in the basement. He found Spike rooting through the bottles in the storage area.
"What are you doing?" Angel asked, his arms folded.
He jumped. "I'm looking for something to put in my blood. I found something tasty down here last time I just can't remember what it was."
"Try some cinnamon." He suggested and went upstairs to the shop.
Wes saw him instantly. "I've got something."
"What is it?" He asked and saw all the Scoobies sat around with books. Willow was on her laptop.
"The Creator can be killed by finding his human weakness and using it against him." Wesley explained. "That means we need Cordelia for this one. We need to find him and have her talk to him until something reaches him. Also, Rakhnah should now be completely human now the ritual is over. So she will be Kathryn and probably wanting her children. Also, she may have been completely unaware of the effects of the ritual. She may have had no idea that the ritual would have meant her losing her powers, if she had any and her demon half."
"Gunn went by her house this morning and found nothing. All her stuff is still there so she's just left the house, not town."
"Okay, when Cordelia gets here we find out if she knows anywhere that her father would go. Xander and Anya have offered to go and search for Kathryn and Willow is trying to find a suitable spell that will locate Mr Chase. Some of them require something of Raymond's so I may need to send Buffy there to get a piece of clothing or some other belonging."
"Thanks for doing this Wes. It means a lot to Cordelia." Angel said.
"I know." Wes smiled and went back to join Giles behind the counter.
The Magic Box was open and there were customers in the shop that Giles needed to serve. Wes had been helping as well as researching, although Giles kept muttering that he was about as useful as he had been at being Buffy's watcher.
Cordelia arrived at the Magic Box at about ten thirty.
Buffy instantly began mumbling about how some people thought it was acceptable to stroll in to do some work right when it was all done. She was silenced by a look from Giles.
Angel went across to her as soon as he saw her and took her into the back room to talk to her privately.
He told her what Wes had found out.
"Maybe he could be at our old house, although I guess it will be burnt out. Or he could be at my mother's grave. I don't know, I don't know him any more."
"Its okay, it's better than what we've come up with." He promised and kissed the top of her head. "Do you know what his weakness could be?"
"I don't know. I guess this one's up to me though, huh?" Cordelia sighed. "Just something else to add to the list. I haven't got to kill him though, have I?"
"Hopefully not. I really don't know." He admitted. "I just know that we need you to find his human weakness. A bit like when Faith told Buffy to play on Mayor Wilkins' weakness."
She breathed out. "I'm starving."
Xander and Anya went off to find Kathryn. Willow found the perfect spell on the Internet.
"The only problem is that it can't be used until the sun sets." She explained.
"Then we wait." Angel said. "I'm not sending Cordelia off on her own in the day to find him."
"We can go with her." Buffy argued.
"There is no way she is going without me. She could get hurt." Angel said menacingly.
"Hey, I am stood here." Cordelia waved her arms around.
"We are losing valuable time in waiting for sunset! Who knows what kind of evil that thing is up to?" Buffy shouted. "She could be trying to stop it." She said and pointed to Cordelia.
"She has a name!" Cordelia shouted back. "Hey Buffy, I know you've been dead and everything but surely you can remember an old school friend's name!"
"You were never my friend and you never will be." Buffy spat. "Do you want to be responsible for people dying?"
"We don't know that that is what will happen." Cordelia argued as Giles, Wes and Willow came to stand in the doorway after hearing the raised voices. "We know nothing about what powers my father actually possesses."
"No, correction, we know that. You were told it after walking in an hour and a half late after doing nothing! You didn't do any work, we did!" Buffy shouted at her.
"I don't need this!" Cordelia shouted and pushed her way past Buffy and went back into the shop. "I am sick of you bitching! People change Buffy; we are not the same people we were in high school. Maybe if you opened your eyes and saw that then we could actually be friends!"
With that she ran out of the doors. Angel was left worried, wondering where she had gone.
She ran back to the mansion. Lorne had left a note saying he had taken the children to the park. Gunn and Fred must have made their way to the shop and missed her. She went straight upstairs and lay down on the bed. Sobs began to escape her and she lay crying for what her father had done to her and what he was doing now. She cried for the mother she never knew she had and for Buffy, the friend she never had. She knew she shouldn't have shouted at Buffy but hormones were raging around her body and she had no control over her emotions. She had found herself crying that morning when Gunn had told her there was no more coffee left after she had already had two cups. She rested her hand on her stomach. Was she sure she really wanted to bring a baby into a world so cruel?
Buffy sat quietly at the Magic Box. Even dawn and Spike couldn't bring her out of her bad mood. She shouldn't have shouted at Cordelia but she couldn't stand to sit around doing nothing while innocent people could be getting killed. And she hated Angel for sticking up for her like that. There was a time when he would have stuck up for her and no-one else. Maybe when all of this madness was over she could go to LA and see if there was a chance they could be together. Maybe spending time together could remind him how much he once loved her. She decided to ask him
She looked around. "Where's Angel?"
"Cor?"
There was silence in the mansion. He found Cordelia upstairs on the bed; tear marks still streaked her face.
He asked no questions, he just lay beside her. Instinctively, her arms went around him and she rested her head on his chest.
"I don't know what's got into me." She mumbled. "I shouldn't have shouted at her. I didn't even realise I was until I had started to."
"I think she encouraged you." He told her. "And you know it's just hormones."
"I know, but she doesn't know that. And to be honest I don't want them to. They don't even know about me and you do they?" He shook his head. "They would only judge me if they knew and hate me even more than they do right now. I can never make up for what I was like in school. I don't know why I expect to."
"People change." He told her simply.
"I'm not too sure; she's still the same self centred person she was back then. Xander still wouldn't know a brain was if his own small one was dragged out through his nose. Willow's still the same but I think she's mellowed a bit. I guess that might be due to Tara and the whole gay thing. Anya's still the same with the tact and so is Giles with his books."
"I can't argue with that." He said with a soft laugh. "But why don't we get a bit self centred while we have this whole place to ourselves? I've found out that the woman I love is carrying my child and I haven't even had the chance to show her how much I love her for it." He complained and lifted her chin so he could look at her.
"I'm sure we can work something out." She whispered and then kissed him. She let his tongue part her lips and deepen the kiss while his hands travelled up her body. She moaned and let her hands do their own wandering. She gave herself to him and their love making was filled with so much passion and tenderness that it brought tears to her eyes.
Author: victoriamartynne
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Spoilers: None, I think!
Summary: Imagine if Connor had never been taken by Wesley, Xander and Anya had never split up and Angel had told Cordelia how he felt. Cordelia gets a phone call that leads her back to Sunnydale and back to the past.
They reached Kathryn's house within no time. They stood huddled under the trees out of sight from the house.
"Okay, so what do we do?" Buffy asked no-one in particular.
"We need to find out whether they've gone to bed or not yet." Wesley said and tried to see whether there was any movement in the lower part of the house.
"Their bedroom is around the back, upstairs." Cordelia said and then thought for a moment. "But Morgan's room is around the side on the ground floor. I could sneak around to the window and ask her where they are."
Giles nodded. "That sounds like a good plan. But be quiet and run if you get seen."
"Why don't I go?" Buffy suggested. "I have the slayer strength and I can run faster.
"We're not breaking in with a tree trunk. I'm tapping on the window and waiting until she comes to me. She trusts me." Cordy argued impatiently.
"Be careful." Angel said and gave her a warning look.
She understood and nodded.
She ran quietly around the side of the house until she saw Morgan's window. The light was on inside so she tapped on the glass gently.
"Morgan, it's Cordelia. Don't be scared, it's only me. I just want to talk."
She gasped when she saw Morgan's tiny face at the window. Her skin was bruised and her lip was bleeding. "Morgan, what happened? When did he get you?"
"Ray hit me and he wouldn't stop." She said and then started to cry. "He said that me and Jake were spying on mommy. He locked me and Jake in our rooms and we can't get out."
"Where's Jake's room? Next to yours?" Cordelia asked quickly.
The girl nodded and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
"Stay here. I'm coming back fro you, okay?" Cordelia promised.
She crept further around the house to the next window. "Jake?" She called out. "It's Cordelia, I've come to let our out."
The little boy was sobbing uncontrollably. "I want my mommy!" He wailed.
"I know sweetie." She soothed and then raised her arms to lift him out of the window. "We'll see if we can find your mommy for you but we need to get you out of here first." She promised and scooped the boy off the window ledge.
His arms and legs instantly wrapped around her.
She carried him back around to Morgan's window and heard the sound of a door breaking upstairs and a roar of some kind. "Morgan, come on quickly!"
The girl clambered onto the ledge and swung herself to the floor with Cordelia's help.
She quickly grabbed hold of Cordelia's hand. They began to run around the house as Morgan's door was broken open from the outside. Cordelia turned around and gasped. Her father looked out of the window. His face was blue and his hair was now red but his features were the still the same. He saw Cordelia and the children stood there and breathed fire at them.
Morgan screamed and Jake just cried harder.
"Come on!" Cordelia shouted and dragged Morgan behind her as she ran back towards where the others were still hiding.
"What happened?" Buffy asked as Cordelia appeared.
"It's happened." She breathed heavily, Jake still in her arms clinging onto her neck.
"He beat Morgan up before and then he locked her and Jake in their rooms. My father is now blue and has red hair and he can breathe fire."
"You didn't stop to fight him?" Buffy asked.
"I thought that seen as though I had two children with me who were scared and upset I thought I would maybe get them out of there instead of stopping to get myself killed!" She shouted angrily to the slayer.
"Cordy, it's okay." Wes said and picked Morgan up. "We'll go back to the Magic Box and figure out ways to stop him."
"To kill him." Cordelia clarified, a hard look on her face. "He was a monster before he changed, I'm not letting him hurt anyone else. This ends as soon as we find out how."
They took the children back to the Magic Box where Anya, Willow and Lorne were waiting with Connor.
Anya's eyes widened when she saw the children. "More children. Why do we have more children? Was there another prophecy or a fire at the orphanage?"
Xander shot her a look and she shut up.
"Giles, have you got a first aid kit?" Cordelia asked him.
He nodded and went to fetch it.
Cordelia and Wesley put the children down on the couch together. Cordelia knelt down in front of them. Angel squeezed her shoulder and then left her to it.
"Morgan, do you want a drink or anything? Jake?" She asked them both.
They shook their heads.
Giles brought her the first aid kit and went to stand with the other Scoobies, who were all watching her curiously.
"Morgan, I need to clean up those cuts on your face, okay?" She said gently, she didn't want to alarm her or frighten her any more than she already was. "I won't hurt you."
"Did Ray hit you too?" Jake asked quietly, his eyes wide in shock.
"Yes he did." She gulped.
"He hit me too sometimes." Jake confided.
Cordelia nodded and applied a little of the antiseptic to Morgan's face. She flinched when the girl did. "I'm sorry."
It only took a few minutes to clean up her face. Morgan looked a little better without all the dried blood on her face but she still looked pale and she had dark bruises around her eyes.
She left them while she went across to where the AI gang were sat.
Angel instantly wrapped her arms around her and let her lean against him in comfort.
Tears escaped her eyes as she thought of what her father had done to them and now to himself. He murmured comforting words into her hair.
"You need to get some sleep baby." He told her.
Giles came across and gave Fred a cup of tea for her.
"I can't sleep." She told him back. "What if he comes after them? We don't know what he's capable of now that he's a demon."
"We could take them back to the mansion with us." He suggested. "There'll be plenty of firepower if he comes anywhere near."
She pulled back to look at him. "Could we?" She wiped her eyes as he nodded and she took the tea off Fred with a smile.
"Is Connor okay?" She turned to Lorne to ask.
"He sure is Princess. He's sleeping in the back. Only took a couple of minutes to get him down." Lorne promised. "Poor little guy was all tuckered out.
Buffy came across to the AI team.
"What's the plan?" She addressed Angel.
"We're going back to the mansion and we'll start on it again in the morning." Angel replied. "You should go home and we'll meet you here in the morning, about nine."
"What are you doing with the children?" She asked.
"They're coming home with us." Cordelia told her and then pulled herself out of Angel's arms to go and talk to Morgan and Jake.
"Cordelia's changed Buffy." Angel said to her. "I saw you watching her earlier. She's changed from what she was back in school. She's been forced to grow up and take responsibility. It hasn't been easy on her."
"And it's been easy on me?" Buffy snapped. "I died! And you weren't there."
"Is that what's bothering you? Well, listen to me Buffy. You did die, and I did come. But you're not the only person in my life. I have Cordelia and my son and my family. You need to stop living in the past." He didn't shout he just spoke forcefully. The words hit home and the slayer ran out of the shop before he or anyone else could say anything.
Willow followed her just as Cordelia brought the children across.
Lorne came back with Connor and they said goodbye to the remaining Scoobies and went back to the mansion.
Gunn and Fred made up beds for Morgan and Jake with the spare blankets they'd found in one of the cupboards in the bedroom while Cordelia and Angel went upstairs to take care of Connor.
Lorne insisted on making hot chocolate for everyone and laced all of them except Cordelia and the children's with vodka.
Cordelia and Angel came downstairs. Cordelia looked very tired and Wesley suspected, with a smile, that Angel had insisted that she go to bed but she had refused. Although they argued a lot everyone could tell that they were crazy about each other.
Angel flopped down onto a small beaten sofa dragging Cordy down with him who instantly curled herself around him, resting her head on his chest. She accepted the mug of hot chocolate gratefully.
"Morgan and Jake are fast on already." Fred told them after checking on them in the other room.
"Good." Cordelia sighed. "I could kill my dad for doing what he did to them."
"That approach might be quite useful later on." Wesley pointed out. "I might hit the books and find out what the Creator actually does."
"What about Kathryn? Rakhnah, whatever, what happens to her now that the ritual is over?" Fred asked.
"I don't know." Angel replied. "Maybe one of us should check it out in the morning. See if there is any sign of her."
"I'll go." Gunn offered. "I'll pick up some coffee and doughnuts while I'm out."
"Sounds good to me, but I really need to go to bed." Cordelia yawned and then got up from the sofa. "Stay here if you want." She said to Angel and then kissed him.
She checked on Morgan and Jake before going upstairs.
"What are we gonna do with the kids once the Creator is killed?" Gunn asked. "And if their mom stays as a demon? I mean, is she a good demon or a bad demon? In my book, a demon that can create something as bad as this dude is not gonna be Mary Poppins."
"I have no idea." Angel admitted. "I think Cordy feels responsible for them because she feels a bond with them. Her father used to beat her up when she was younger and she feels that now he's doing it to them she should have been able to stop it. She'll probably want to take them back to LA with us if Kathryn is evil and needs to be killed. The hotel's going to turn into a day care centre." He groaned and then got up to go upstairs.
"Yeah, but you'll love it." Lorne called as he made his way up the stairs. "Just think about it kids, once Angel thought that he'd never have kids and now he's going to have four of them!"
The gang laughed.
"I heard that!" Angel shouted down.
Cordelia was sleeping by the time he got into bed. She sensed him get into bed or felt the bed shift and rolled over to wrap her arms around him. "I love you."
They awoke in the morning to Connor crying. A glance at her watch told her it was only six am. They'd only had about four hours sleep. She groaned as she swung her legs out of bed.
"I'm coming honey. Mommy's coming."
She walked over to the crib and picked him up. "What are you crying about, huh? Don't you know how early it is?"
She took him back to the bed and put him in the middle before climbing back in. "Morning." Angel said to them both. "What time is it?"
"Six am." She replied. "He sure likes to keep us on our toes."
"Just wait while we've got two of them to chase around." He smiled.
Cordelia groaned. "They'll both be crawling around the place, screaming at night, bumping their heads, being sick.Speaking of."
Cordelia ran to the bathroom with the first morning sickness of the day. She bumped into a sleepy looking Fred on the way an only just managed a hastily shouted sorry as she ran past.
"What's up?" Gunn asked from his position half on the sofa and half off. "Barbie got sick again?"
"She is pregnant." Fred scolded him for making fun of her.
She emerged ten minutes later looking a little rough around the edges. Her hair was stuck up and her brow had beads of sweat on it.
"Morning sickness is a bitch." She said simply and went back up to Angel.
"Is it getting to you honey?" He asked worriedly.
"It's bearable." She smiled. "I survived killer visions more than once; a little morning sickness isn't going to bring me down."
"I love you for this."
"Only this?" She teased. "Can't you possibly think of another reason?"
"I'm sure that at a push I could." He teased back and then laid a hand on her stomach. "It's amazing isn't it?"
"It sure is." She agreed.
Gunn went to Kathryn's house before everyone else had even got up. When he got back Fred went to make the children's breakfast and Wesley went to the Magic Box to talk to Giles about possible theories.
Angel came to meet Gunn to find out what was going on. Cordelia had fallen back to sleep.
"Kathryn has gone. All her stuff is still there so she hasn't skipped but she wasn't in the house. You think maybe she went after Cordy's pop?" Gunn asked.
"I don't know, she could have." Angel ran a hand through his hair. "I'm going to go to the Magic Box through the sewers. Lorne is stopping with the children. Wait for Cordy. When she wakes up tell her where I am. Don't let her do anything that'll hurt her or the baby."
"Sure thing." He patted Angel on the shoulder as he left.
Angel came into the Magic Box in the basement. He found Spike rooting through the bottles in the storage area.
"What are you doing?" Angel asked, his arms folded.
He jumped. "I'm looking for something to put in my blood. I found something tasty down here last time I just can't remember what it was."
"Try some cinnamon." He suggested and went upstairs to the shop.
Wes saw him instantly. "I've got something."
"What is it?" He asked and saw all the Scoobies sat around with books. Willow was on her laptop.
"The Creator can be killed by finding his human weakness and using it against him." Wesley explained. "That means we need Cordelia for this one. We need to find him and have her talk to him until something reaches him. Also, Rakhnah should now be completely human now the ritual is over. So she will be Kathryn and probably wanting her children. Also, she may have been completely unaware of the effects of the ritual. She may have had no idea that the ritual would have meant her losing her powers, if she had any and her demon half."
"Gunn went by her house this morning and found nothing. All her stuff is still there so she's just left the house, not town."
"Okay, when Cordelia gets here we find out if she knows anywhere that her father would go. Xander and Anya have offered to go and search for Kathryn and Willow is trying to find a suitable spell that will locate Mr Chase. Some of them require something of Raymond's so I may need to send Buffy there to get a piece of clothing or some other belonging."
"Thanks for doing this Wes. It means a lot to Cordelia." Angel said.
"I know." Wes smiled and went back to join Giles behind the counter.
The Magic Box was open and there were customers in the shop that Giles needed to serve. Wes had been helping as well as researching, although Giles kept muttering that he was about as useful as he had been at being Buffy's watcher.
Cordelia arrived at the Magic Box at about ten thirty.
Buffy instantly began mumbling about how some people thought it was acceptable to stroll in to do some work right when it was all done. She was silenced by a look from Giles.
Angel went across to her as soon as he saw her and took her into the back room to talk to her privately.
He told her what Wes had found out.
"Maybe he could be at our old house, although I guess it will be burnt out. Or he could be at my mother's grave. I don't know, I don't know him any more."
"Its okay, it's better than what we've come up with." He promised and kissed the top of her head. "Do you know what his weakness could be?"
"I don't know. I guess this one's up to me though, huh?" Cordelia sighed. "Just something else to add to the list. I haven't got to kill him though, have I?"
"Hopefully not. I really don't know." He admitted. "I just know that we need you to find his human weakness. A bit like when Faith told Buffy to play on Mayor Wilkins' weakness."
She breathed out. "I'm starving."
Xander and Anya went off to find Kathryn. Willow found the perfect spell on the Internet.
"The only problem is that it can't be used until the sun sets." She explained.
"Then we wait." Angel said. "I'm not sending Cordelia off on her own in the day to find him."
"We can go with her." Buffy argued.
"There is no way she is going without me. She could get hurt." Angel said menacingly.
"Hey, I am stood here." Cordelia waved her arms around.
"We are losing valuable time in waiting for sunset! Who knows what kind of evil that thing is up to?" Buffy shouted. "She could be trying to stop it." She said and pointed to Cordelia.
"She has a name!" Cordelia shouted back. "Hey Buffy, I know you've been dead and everything but surely you can remember an old school friend's name!"
"You were never my friend and you never will be." Buffy spat. "Do you want to be responsible for people dying?"
"We don't know that that is what will happen." Cordelia argued as Giles, Wes and Willow came to stand in the doorway after hearing the raised voices. "We know nothing about what powers my father actually possesses."
"No, correction, we know that. You were told it after walking in an hour and a half late after doing nothing! You didn't do any work, we did!" Buffy shouted at her.
"I don't need this!" Cordelia shouted and pushed her way past Buffy and went back into the shop. "I am sick of you bitching! People change Buffy; we are not the same people we were in high school. Maybe if you opened your eyes and saw that then we could actually be friends!"
With that she ran out of the doors. Angel was left worried, wondering where she had gone.
She ran back to the mansion. Lorne had left a note saying he had taken the children to the park. Gunn and Fred must have made their way to the shop and missed her. She went straight upstairs and lay down on the bed. Sobs began to escape her and she lay crying for what her father had done to her and what he was doing now. She cried for the mother she never knew she had and for Buffy, the friend she never had. She knew she shouldn't have shouted at Buffy but hormones were raging around her body and she had no control over her emotions. She had found herself crying that morning when Gunn had told her there was no more coffee left after she had already had two cups. She rested her hand on her stomach. Was she sure she really wanted to bring a baby into a world so cruel?
Buffy sat quietly at the Magic Box. Even dawn and Spike couldn't bring her out of her bad mood. She shouldn't have shouted at Cordelia but she couldn't stand to sit around doing nothing while innocent people could be getting killed. And she hated Angel for sticking up for her like that. There was a time when he would have stuck up for her and no-one else. Maybe when all of this madness was over she could go to LA and see if there was a chance they could be together. Maybe spending time together could remind him how much he once loved her. She decided to ask him
She looked around. "Where's Angel?"
"Cor?"
There was silence in the mansion. He found Cordelia upstairs on the bed; tear marks still streaked her face.
He asked no questions, he just lay beside her. Instinctively, her arms went around him and she rested her head on his chest.
"I don't know what's got into me." She mumbled. "I shouldn't have shouted at her. I didn't even realise I was until I had started to."
"I think she encouraged you." He told her. "And you know it's just hormones."
"I know, but she doesn't know that. And to be honest I don't want them to. They don't even know about me and you do they?" He shook his head. "They would only judge me if they knew and hate me even more than they do right now. I can never make up for what I was like in school. I don't know why I expect to."
"People change." He told her simply.
"I'm not too sure; she's still the same self centred person she was back then. Xander still wouldn't know a brain was if his own small one was dragged out through his nose. Willow's still the same but I think she's mellowed a bit. I guess that might be due to Tara and the whole gay thing. Anya's still the same with the tact and so is Giles with his books."
"I can't argue with that." He said with a soft laugh. "But why don't we get a bit self centred while we have this whole place to ourselves? I've found out that the woman I love is carrying my child and I haven't even had the chance to show her how much I love her for it." He complained and lifted her chin so he could look at her.
"I'm sure we can work something out." She whispered and then kissed him. She let his tongue part her lips and deepen the kiss while his hands travelled up her body. She moaned and let her hands do their own wandering. She gave herself to him and their love making was filled with so much passion and tenderness that it brought tears to her eyes.
