Title: Family: Forward to LA
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. Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit the Fang Gang.
He entered their bedroom and saw her body curled up on the bed with Connor nestled in her arms.
"Hey." She called through the darkness when she heard the door open.
"Hey." He replied and kissed her head as he sat on the bed next to her. "I'm glad to see you taking it easy for a change. Did the vision tire you out?"
"Yeah, a bit. Only as much as usual. The baby's been kicking." She smiled. "It feels kinda weird."
"Good weird or bad weird?" He asked and laid a hand on her stomach.
"Oh, good weird. Definitely." She smiled and laid her hand over his. "Did you miss me?"
"I always miss you." He promised. "Don't you have a doctor's appointment tomorrow?"
"Yeah, you don't have to come with me though. I'll be okay, it's just routine. I think you should get out of those clothes before you make me sick." She said and crinkled her nose.
He looked down at his ruined shirt and nodded. "I think Fred's ordering tacos if you want to come down." He said as he dressed. "I think the Scoobies are going out to a club."
"Tell me when they go and I'll come down, I don't really want to face the inquisition again."
He was about to try and change her mind but thought better of it. "I'll come up when they've gone." He promised and left.
True to their word the Scoobies left the hotel and went out. Cordelia came back downstairs, leaving Connor in his crib with the monitor on.
"Hey, do you hear that?" She called out as she came down the stairs. "Silence!"
Fred laughed and Wes just smirked.
"Do I smell tacos?" She asked and went into the office to get one without even waiting for a reply.
She came out biting into one. "These taste good. Why didn't we go out tonight?"
"We didn't think you'd want to." Angel told her sheepishly.
"And you didn't think to ask? I'm not that much of a tyrant am I?" She asked.
Gunn snorted and she swatted him as she walked past to sit on Angel's lap.
"I don't think you're a tyrant." Fred offered, eating her own taco.
"So why don't we go out? I sure I could scrub up a bit as not to embarrass you all." Cordelia said and looked around at them. "Where did Buffy and the gang go?"
"I think they said they'd hit a few clubs on the east side." Gunn volunteered.
"So that means no Caritas, right? So, we could go there for a couple of hours. I'm getting bored of being stuck inside." Cordelia complained and rubbed her bump.
"It sounds okay to me." Wesley said. "Angel?"
"If you're sure." He said to Cordelia and felt her nod.
Cordelia, for once, thought carefully about what she was going to wear. She hadn't done that since she'd first come to LA. On one hand, she wanted to be comfortable, or as comfortable as she could be with a huge bump stuck on her front. On the other hand, she wanted to look good for a change. For the past few months she'd lived in jeans and t-shirts or sweatshirts. She didn't have any 'proper' maternity clothes. She was lucky that all her trousers were low riders and fit under her bump. All her tops, or at least most of them, were stretchy and so still fit. She stood looking at her wardrobe for about ten minutes selecting and then rejecting certain items before selecting a pair of extra low riding black leather pants that would fit under her bump and a red baggy shirt. She slipped her feet into a pair of black loafers and then applied a little makeup.
Angel entered the room just as she finished putting on her lipstick. She turned around on the chair she was sat on. "Are you nearly..?"
The words he was about to say faded as he saw her. "Wow."
She smiled at him and then went to wrap her arms around his neck. "You like?" He showed her how much he liked by nuzzling her neck and running kisses down her collarbone.
"Stop." She said regretfully. "We have to go. And don't you know that you shouldn't molester pregnant women?" She teased.
"Hey, this is why you ended up pregnant in the first place!" He growled.
Cordelia laughed and took his hand to lead him downstairs.
"Oh Cordelia!" Fred gasped. "You look gorgeous."
"You sound surprised?" Cordelia grinned.
Angel took her hand and they headed out to the car, taking Connor with them.
"Angel cakes!" Lorne greeted. "You know, there's only your nipper I'd allow in here! Princess!" Lorne turned towards Cordelia. "You are looking hot!"
Cordelia smiled shyly and sat down on the chair Angel pulled out for her. "Thanks Lorne. Can I get some water?"
Lorne nodded and gave orders to the waiter for their drinks. They sat on a round table near the bar; Connor was in his carry cot on the floor in between Cordelia and Angel.
"He's kinda good." Gunn said to Fred, pointing to the demon on the stage.
"He's kinda screwed." Lorne said as he put their drinks down on the table. "He's got a couple of bounty hunters on his tail; he killed a little girl out in Montana a few months back. They'll catch him sometime next week. I'm only letting him in because he's friends with my bar man." He explained.
Cordelia felt Angel's hand squeeze her knee. "I know." She whispered. Knowing exactly what he was thinking. There were some sick people in the world, most of them inhuman.
"Angel?" Fred asked. "Are you going to sing?"
The whole gang cracked up, remembering the last time Angel sang at Caritas.
"Hey, it wasn't that bad." He complained.
"Angel, I'm afraid it was." Wesley argued and sipped at his drink.
"Let's give Barry a break tonight, shall we?" Lorne said and then patted Angel on the shoulder before going to talk to the demon who had been singing.
"I wasn't that bad!" Angel called out to Lorne's back as he walked away.
"What wasn't so bad?" A female voice asked.
Cordelia, Angel and Wesley knew instantly who it was before turning around, Fred and Gunn had to look. Gunn almost groaned when he saw the rest of the Scoobies stood behind. He and Xander didn't see eye to eye and the slayer just pissed him off in general with the whole Angel good Cordy bad thing.
"Angel's singing." Fred said shyly.
"Angel sings, wow." Xander said. "The next thing you'll be trying to tell us is that he dances to the conga every morning."
Buffy pulled a chair from a nearby table and sat down on it next to Angel and Connor, separating him from Cordelia. The rest of the Scoobies pulled up chairs to the table.
"So, Buffy." Cordelia said brightly. "What are you doing here? I thought you were hitting the east side of town?"
"Oh we were, until someone told us that there was a great karaoke bar here run by a mind reading demon. We thought it might be fun."
"The demon is called Lorne and you met him in Sunnydale." Angel said and shot a glance at a very pissed off looking Cordelia.
"This is Lorne's club?" Willow asked. "I was hoping to see him while we were here. He was nice."
"The green man with the horns?" Anya asked Willow. When she nodded she began to explain how she'd once had to grant a wish to a woman who wanted her husband to look just like Lorne, as punishment for him always looking in the mirror and calling her ugly.
"Anya used to be a vengeance demon." Willow told Fred and Gunn, unsure if they knew.
"Don't we kill them anymore?" He asked Cordy and Wes. They both just laughed, remembering Harmony.
Connor began to cry and Cordelia's first instinct was to go to him.
"Can I get him?" Buffy asked Angel.
He looked straight at Cordelia but she just sat back down in her chair with her arms folded across the top of her bump.
Before he could say anything she'd picked him up and had placed him in her arms.
"Aren't you the sweetest little baby?" She cooed.
Cordelia jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. "You okay kitten?" Lorne asked. "Want to help me pick some music?"
She nodded gratefully and followed him across the bar to where he kept all the CD's.
"He loves you Princess." He told her.
"Oh, I know that. It's not him I'm worried about, it's her." She cast a glance in their direction. "It's just weird being with her again. I guess it hurts. And seeing her with Connor, it feels like my insides are being ripped out."
"He'll always come back to you. She's in his past. I sense confusion around her. She doesn't know what she wants and she wants things to be like they were. She needs to find out that they can't be and that she needs to move on." Lorne examined a CD cover as he spoke.
"I guess that's what dying does to you." Cordelia mused. "Of course, it couldn't have made her want to go to Mexico or even Germany. Germany could be nice, and far away."
Lorne chuckled. "Maybe this could be a good song." He held up the CD single 'Love is a Battlefield'.
"Don't even joke about it." She warned and then gave him a quick hug before going to the ladies' room.
She applied a little more lipstick and mascara and then went back to the table.
"What did I miss?" She asked brightly and took a sip of her water.
"We were just telling stories about when we were in high school." Anya said.
"Can you remember when that invisible girl came after you because you were mean to her?" Buffy said to Cordelia as she bounced Connor on her knee.
"Yes I do, and he doesn't like to be bounced." She replied tightly. "Can you remember when you were dumped by Scott for being too weird?"
Buffy frowned but stopped bouncing Connor. He started clapping his hands and laughing at Cordelia. She smiled at him and waved.
"I was never weird." Buffy argued.
"And I was a bitch." Cordelia said and held out her arms for Connor. Buffy grudgingly handed him over.
"So, you didn't get along in high school?" Dawn asked them both.
"No." They both said together.
"Finally." Spike said. "Something you two agree on. Now, can we talk about something more interesting?"
Cordelia held Connor close to her and whispered in his ear causing him to laugh. He clutched her shirt in his tiny hands.
Angel looked on, wishing that he could just take them in his arms and hold them there forever. He caught her eye and smiled. She smiled back.
They left the club at about eleven. Cordelia and Connor were wiped and even Spike looked a little tired. Angel wrapped an arm around Cordelia as they walked to the car, she was half asleep.
"I think I might go straight to bed when I get in." She yawned.
"Oh, you think?" He teased. "I think you'll be lucky if you actually make it to the bed. Although once you get in you won't be leaving in a while."
"And why is that?"
"You really expect to go out looking like that and not expect a reaction from me?" He asked, half mocking.
"Not really." She smiled; it seemed the outfit had done its job.
He helped her get into the car with Connor and then waited while the others climbed in the back before getting in and driving home.
Cordelia was out like a light before Angel even had the chance to put Connor in his crib and climb out of bed. She didn't even wake when Connor cried. Angel didn't mind seeing to him, as long as Cordelia got the sleep that she needed.
He was awake before her in the morning and he regretted having to wake her for her doctor's appointment. She smiled sleepily and opened an eye.
"I guess I was pretty tired."
"Pretty tired? You snored all night!"
"I do not snore!" She squealed and hit him with a pillow.
He caught it and pinned her arms above her head before kissing her.
He let her arms go and she wrapped them around his neck, pulling him towards her.
Buffy woke up to a pounding head; she shouldn't have drunk all that she did last night. She rolled over and saw Spike laid in the bed next to her. She looked down and realised that she was naked. She pulled the sheet around her and sat up abruptly. Not again, she pleaded silently, I put an end to this freak show back in Sunnydale. She looked around and saw that she was in his room. She climbed out of the bed silently and slipped herself back into her clothes and snuck out of the room. Only then did Spike open his 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. Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit the Fang Gang.
He entered their bedroom and saw her body curled up on the bed with Connor nestled in her arms.
"Hey." She called through the darkness when she heard the door open.
"Hey." He replied and kissed her head as he sat on the bed next to her. "I'm glad to see you taking it easy for a change. Did the vision tire you out?"
"Yeah, a bit. Only as much as usual. The baby's been kicking." She smiled. "It feels kinda weird."
"Good weird or bad weird?" He asked and laid a hand on her stomach.
"Oh, good weird. Definitely." She smiled and laid her hand over his. "Did you miss me?"
"I always miss you." He promised. "Don't you have a doctor's appointment tomorrow?"
"Yeah, you don't have to come with me though. I'll be okay, it's just routine. I think you should get out of those clothes before you make me sick." She said and crinkled her nose.
He looked down at his ruined shirt and nodded. "I think Fred's ordering tacos if you want to come down." He said as he dressed. "I think the Scoobies are going out to a club."
"Tell me when they go and I'll come down, I don't really want to face the inquisition again."
He was about to try and change her mind but thought better of it. "I'll come up when they've gone." He promised and left.
True to their word the Scoobies left the hotel and went out. Cordelia came back downstairs, leaving Connor in his crib with the monitor on.
"Hey, do you hear that?" She called out as she came down the stairs. "Silence!"
Fred laughed and Wes just smirked.
"Do I smell tacos?" She asked and went into the office to get one without even waiting for a reply.
She came out biting into one. "These taste good. Why didn't we go out tonight?"
"We didn't think you'd want to." Angel told her sheepishly.
"And you didn't think to ask? I'm not that much of a tyrant am I?" She asked.
Gunn snorted and she swatted him as she walked past to sit on Angel's lap.
"I don't think you're a tyrant." Fred offered, eating her own taco.
"So why don't we go out? I sure I could scrub up a bit as not to embarrass you all." Cordelia said and looked around at them. "Where did Buffy and the gang go?"
"I think they said they'd hit a few clubs on the east side." Gunn volunteered.
"So that means no Caritas, right? So, we could go there for a couple of hours. I'm getting bored of being stuck inside." Cordelia complained and rubbed her bump.
"It sounds okay to me." Wesley said. "Angel?"
"If you're sure." He said to Cordelia and felt her nod.
Cordelia, for once, thought carefully about what she was going to wear. She hadn't done that since she'd first come to LA. On one hand, she wanted to be comfortable, or as comfortable as she could be with a huge bump stuck on her front. On the other hand, she wanted to look good for a change. For the past few months she'd lived in jeans and t-shirts or sweatshirts. She didn't have any 'proper' maternity clothes. She was lucky that all her trousers were low riders and fit under her bump. All her tops, or at least most of them, were stretchy and so still fit. She stood looking at her wardrobe for about ten minutes selecting and then rejecting certain items before selecting a pair of extra low riding black leather pants that would fit under her bump and a red baggy shirt. She slipped her feet into a pair of black loafers and then applied a little makeup.
Angel entered the room just as she finished putting on her lipstick. She turned around on the chair she was sat on. "Are you nearly..?"
The words he was about to say faded as he saw her. "Wow."
She smiled at him and then went to wrap her arms around his neck. "You like?" He showed her how much he liked by nuzzling her neck and running kisses down her collarbone.
"Stop." She said regretfully. "We have to go. And don't you know that you shouldn't molester pregnant women?" She teased.
"Hey, this is why you ended up pregnant in the first place!" He growled.
Cordelia laughed and took his hand to lead him downstairs.
"Oh Cordelia!" Fred gasped. "You look gorgeous."
"You sound surprised?" Cordelia grinned.
Angel took her hand and they headed out to the car, taking Connor with them.
"Angel cakes!" Lorne greeted. "You know, there's only your nipper I'd allow in here! Princess!" Lorne turned towards Cordelia. "You are looking hot!"
Cordelia smiled shyly and sat down on the chair Angel pulled out for her. "Thanks Lorne. Can I get some water?"
Lorne nodded and gave orders to the waiter for their drinks. They sat on a round table near the bar; Connor was in his carry cot on the floor in between Cordelia and Angel.
"He's kinda good." Gunn said to Fred, pointing to the demon on the stage.
"He's kinda screwed." Lorne said as he put their drinks down on the table. "He's got a couple of bounty hunters on his tail; he killed a little girl out in Montana a few months back. They'll catch him sometime next week. I'm only letting him in because he's friends with my bar man." He explained.
Cordelia felt Angel's hand squeeze her knee. "I know." She whispered. Knowing exactly what he was thinking. There were some sick people in the world, most of them inhuman.
"Angel?" Fred asked. "Are you going to sing?"
The whole gang cracked up, remembering the last time Angel sang at Caritas.
"Hey, it wasn't that bad." He complained.
"Angel, I'm afraid it was." Wesley argued and sipped at his drink.
"Let's give Barry a break tonight, shall we?" Lorne said and then patted Angel on the shoulder before going to talk to the demon who had been singing.
"I wasn't that bad!" Angel called out to Lorne's back as he walked away.
"What wasn't so bad?" A female voice asked.
Cordelia, Angel and Wesley knew instantly who it was before turning around, Fred and Gunn had to look. Gunn almost groaned when he saw the rest of the Scoobies stood behind. He and Xander didn't see eye to eye and the slayer just pissed him off in general with the whole Angel good Cordy bad thing.
"Angel's singing." Fred said shyly.
"Angel sings, wow." Xander said. "The next thing you'll be trying to tell us is that he dances to the conga every morning."
Buffy pulled a chair from a nearby table and sat down on it next to Angel and Connor, separating him from Cordelia. The rest of the Scoobies pulled up chairs to the table.
"So, Buffy." Cordelia said brightly. "What are you doing here? I thought you were hitting the east side of town?"
"Oh we were, until someone told us that there was a great karaoke bar here run by a mind reading demon. We thought it might be fun."
"The demon is called Lorne and you met him in Sunnydale." Angel said and shot a glance at a very pissed off looking Cordelia.
"This is Lorne's club?" Willow asked. "I was hoping to see him while we were here. He was nice."
"The green man with the horns?" Anya asked Willow. When she nodded she began to explain how she'd once had to grant a wish to a woman who wanted her husband to look just like Lorne, as punishment for him always looking in the mirror and calling her ugly.
"Anya used to be a vengeance demon." Willow told Fred and Gunn, unsure if they knew.
"Don't we kill them anymore?" He asked Cordy and Wes. They both just laughed, remembering Harmony.
Connor began to cry and Cordelia's first instinct was to go to him.
"Can I get him?" Buffy asked Angel.
He looked straight at Cordelia but she just sat back down in her chair with her arms folded across the top of her bump.
Before he could say anything she'd picked him up and had placed him in her arms.
"Aren't you the sweetest little baby?" She cooed.
Cordelia jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. "You okay kitten?" Lorne asked. "Want to help me pick some music?"
She nodded gratefully and followed him across the bar to where he kept all the CD's.
"He loves you Princess." He told her.
"Oh, I know that. It's not him I'm worried about, it's her." She cast a glance in their direction. "It's just weird being with her again. I guess it hurts. And seeing her with Connor, it feels like my insides are being ripped out."
"He'll always come back to you. She's in his past. I sense confusion around her. She doesn't know what she wants and she wants things to be like they were. She needs to find out that they can't be and that she needs to move on." Lorne examined a CD cover as he spoke.
"I guess that's what dying does to you." Cordelia mused. "Of course, it couldn't have made her want to go to Mexico or even Germany. Germany could be nice, and far away."
Lorne chuckled. "Maybe this could be a good song." He held up the CD single 'Love is a Battlefield'.
"Don't even joke about it." She warned and then gave him a quick hug before going to the ladies' room.
She applied a little more lipstick and mascara and then went back to the table.
"What did I miss?" She asked brightly and took a sip of her water.
"We were just telling stories about when we were in high school." Anya said.
"Can you remember when that invisible girl came after you because you were mean to her?" Buffy said to Cordelia as she bounced Connor on her knee.
"Yes I do, and he doesn't like to be bounced." She replied tightly. "Can you remember when you were dumped by Scott for being too weird?"
Buffy frowned but stopped bouncing Connor. He started clapping his hands and laughing at Cordelia. She smiled at him and waved.
"I was never weird." Buffy argued.
"And I was a bitch." Cordelia said and held out her arms for Connor. Buffy grudgingly handed him over.
"So, you didn't get along in high school?" Dawn asked them both.
"No." They both said together.
"Finally." Spike said. "Something you two agree on. Now, can we talk about something more interesting?"
Cordelia held Connor close to her and whispered in his ear causing him to laugh. He clutched her shirt in his tiny hands.
Angel looked on, wishing that he could just take them in his arms and hold them there forever. He caught her eye and smiled. She smiled back.
They left the club at about eleven. Cordelia and Connor were wiped and even Spike looked a little tired. Angel wrapped an arm around Cordelia as they walked to the car, she was half asleep.
"I think I might go straight to bed when I get in." She yawned.
"Oh, you think?" He teased. "I think you'll be lucky if you actually make it to the bed. Although once you get in you won't be leaving in a while."
"And why is that?"
"You really expect to go out looking like that and not expect a reaction from me?" He asked, half mocking.
"Not really." She smiled; it seemed the outfit had done its job.
He helped her get into the car with Connor and then waited while the others climbed in the back before getting in and driving home.
Cordelia was out like a light before Angel even had the chance to put Connor in his crib and climb out of bed. She didn't even wake when Connor cried. Angel didn't mind seeing to him, as long as Cordelia got the sleep that she needed.
He was awake before her in the morning and he regretted having to wake her for her doctor's appointment. She smiled sleepily and opened an eye.
"I guess I was pretty tired."
"Pretty tired? You snored all night!"
"I do not snore!" She squealed and hit him with a pillow.
He caught it and pinned her arms above her head before kissing her.
He let her arms go and she wrapped them around his neck, pulling him towards her.
Buffy woke up to a pounding head; she shouldn't have drunk all that she did last night. She rolled over and saw Spike laid in the bed next to her. She looked down and realised that she was naked. She pulled the sheet around her and sat up abruptly. Not again, she pleaded silently, I put an end to this freak show back in Sunnydale. She looked around and saw that she was in his room. She climbed out of the bed silently and slipped herself back into her clothes and snuck out of the room. Only then did Spike open his eyes.
