A/N: Phew. For me this is a long chapter. But it is the penultimate one and it is chock full of exposition because I didn't want things to go unexplained. It's also probably my favourite.

Angel glanced up from the books that were piled precariously on his desk as

Cordelia bustled in to his spacious office. She handed him a mug accompanied by an overly bright smile as she then proceeded to tidy his desk in a decidedly un-Cordelia like manner.

He watched her cautiously for a moment before eyeing the contents of his mug. Bright red pig's blood, steaming hot, stared invitingly up at him. He was still watching Cordelia, her bright outfit a piercing contrast to the dully decorated room, as he took a sip. The sharp tang of the cinnamon greeted him instantly. Angel first grimaced and then smiled. At least he knew what Cordy was doing now.

"You're trying to cheer me up." Angel accused, smiling self-satisfactorily at Cordelia.

She stopped flitting around the room to fix him with a wide-eyed, too innocent expression. "Why do you say that?" innocence permeated every word. "Can't a friend just bring you something to drink?"

"Cinnamon." declared Angel, waving his hand at the mug in front of him.

"So? Can't a friend bring a little variation into that liquids-only diet of yours?" She was still valiantly trying to sound completely guiltless and Angel just didn't have the heart to tell her that she wasn't that good an actress.

"Cordelia." Angel said, smiling patronisingly at her. Her innocent masquerade vanished instantly as she flopped into the leather chair opposite the wide mahogany desk.

"Fine." she said, "But I wasn't just trying to cheer you up." Cordelia explained wagging her hand at him, "I was also trying to butter you up."

"What for?" Angel asked warily. His arms crossed in front of him defensively. Cordelia decided that it was very hostile body language. Or, she thought, maybe he was just trying to protect his wallet from her, these meetings did normally end in her needing a few hundred for some new shoes.

"I want to ask you some questions that you might not want to answer." Cordelia was fidgeting, something she rarely did and a sure sign that these were questions that he definitely didn't want to answer. Cordelia took a deep breath. "About Connor." Angel's flinch was visible even across the wide desk. She sucked in another deep breath. "Okay, about Jake." He flinched even more noticeably. Cordy let all her deep breathes out in a sigh of exasperation. "Fine, about 'the boy'." she said making quote marks in the air with her hands. Angel just glared at her.

"You want to talk about that?" Angel asked in the tender tone primarily reserved for Cordelia.

"Mainly just about how he still has all his strength and everything." Angel leaned his head forward onto steepled hands.

"We don't know he has 'everything'." Angel answered, avoiding the brunt of the question. A fact that did not go unnoticed by Cordelia.

"Angel." her voice held a distinct warning tone.

"It was reality." Angel sighed as Cordelia merely looked confused. "They could change memories but reality is a hell of a lot harder." Comprehension dawned on Cordelia's face.

"That's why he's not a baby, right? All that time in Qour-toth still applies."

Angel nodded in agreement. "Also," he added with another sigh. "Wolfram and Hart probably thought it would be fun to leave it open for him finding out he's not exactly normal." Angel offered a wry grin. "Which is exactly what happened. I mean that's why they left the med…"

A commotion outside the office cut Angel off mid-sentence as the heavy oak doors were thrown open to reveal a grim looking Wesley. His accent was thick with worry as he surveyed Angel and Cordelia.

"I think there's something you both should see."

*

"This is your great plan?" said Dawn as she stood outside the heavy metal door, leading into the imposing law offices.

"Yup." Jake answered, resolutely ignoring her impatiently tapping foot as he fiddled with the lock.

"So, what? We're just going to wander inside a heavily-guarded law office and search through the hundred of files that are most likely there?" Dawn's voice held an edge of desperation to it.

"Yup." Jake responded just as the door made a satisfied click and opened inwards to reveal a dank looking passage. "I thought we'd been over this all before?"

In fact, it had taken him an hour to persuade her that Angel really did know him and that there might be some files on him. It had taken him another hour to dissuade her from asking one of her friends direct about him. Jake didn't know why but he knew that the look on Angel's face when he'd seen him didn't exactly encourage questioning. After that it had taken him yet another hour to convince her that it wasn't breaking and entering as Angel had long ago provided Dawn with an emergency key.

"But it's not an emergency!" she'd whined. Jake had just glared at her.

"My freakish unknown supernatural status isn't an 'emergency' to you?" he'd responded, irritated.

She'd finally conceded but only with the added incentive that she could read her own file too. However much Dawn tried to avoid it she was always slightly curious about her status as the Key.

Dawn stared nervously down the corridor. "What if we get lost?"

"We won't." Jake answered confidently. Dawn glanced at him. His face was set in lines of determination, he was barely recognisable as the boy who had obviously been terrified about talking to her that night at the bar.

As Jake set of down the corridor Dawn tried to shrug off the feelings of misgiving that were lying heavily on her and followed, her footsteps echoing ominously as the rectangular patch of light became dimmer.

She was scared. She knew it was stupid, this was her friends' place of work and she knew they would be angry, but she didn't really have any reason to be scared. And she wasn't even scared of Jake. Dawn fretted as they walked along, trying to dispel the fear that was growing inside her. Because try as she might she couldn't find a reason for it.

But as they stopped in front of the door marked with stencilled letters spelling out 'Files and Records' Dawn realised that what she was scared of was the truth.

*

Cordelia stared in horror at the picture filling all the security screens. "Connor." she whispered, her hand straying to Angel's arm for support.

"And Dawn." Wesley added grimly, not taking his eyes off the two figures entering the Files and Records room.

"What the hell are they doing?" To both Wesley and Cordelia it almost sounded as though Angel wasn't thinking about the whole situation. He just sounded like an angry father.

The two figures stopped in front of the secretary in charge of the filing and the sudden realisation hit Angel like a ton of bricks. Or a very pointy stake. He span quickly, seeing the same knowledge on Wesley and Cordy's faces.

"They're trying to find out about Connor." Wesley said unnecessarily as Angel was already half out of the door, with Cordelia close behind.

*

Jake stood warily in front of the smartly dressed woman. "Um, hi." he said, unsure of himself. The figure just smiled blandly back at him. "I'm looking for some information."

"Obviously." muttered Dawn, behind him, sarcastically. The figure didn't show any indication that his statement was inane. She merely sat forward and kept on smiling.

"What sort of information can I help you with?" She didn't seem to blink enough. "Abbreviated demon forms, the Abrack demon hordes of Mongolia, accounting, colonial demon killings, company discount cards, our Cyclops dating service, Dastrentia demons, our Delaware branch, demons in general, dolphin therapy for the possessed, earthen home ware for the modern wicc…"

"Stop!" yelled Jake, raising his hands to stop the alphabetical listings before it got to zoological demon studies. "I guess, could you look for," he looked at Dawn for inspiration who just shrugged apologetically, "erm," he continued, chewing his lower lip in aggravation, "I guess, could you look for Jake McAvery?"

The woman stilled and suddenly rows of numbers and words were whizzing past her eyes. Jake stumbled back in shock, only Dawn's hand shooting out to grab his arm stopping him from falling over completely.

The woman, 'thing', Jake corrected mentally, stopped whirring and looked at Jake with normal eyes. "Sorry," she said smiling the same bland smile. "no listing has been found for a McAvery Jake."

Jake ran a hand through his hair in annoyance. Dawn tugged on his arm, and he turned to look at her.

"Maybe we should go." she looked terrified, and Jake felt a sudden twinge of guilt. "We could just ask Angel…"

"Angel." said Jake, a memory hitting him. "Connor." he continued decisively, leaning over the desk to look at the woman. "Look up all files with Connor in them."

The woman did as requested, the rows flashing through her eyes. Dawn was looking at him questioningly.

"I'm sure that was the name he whispered when he saw me." Jake answered the unspoken question. Dawn looked sceptical.

"I didn't hear him say anything."

"Maybe I just have better hearing than you." Jake said distractedly as the woman's eyes stopped flashing.

"One hundred and fifteen files found that include the name Connor. Do you wish to hear all listings?"

"Yes." said Jake, ignoring Dawn's sigh of exasperation. The woman never stopped smiling.

"Adrelda, Connor, Afresinca, Connor Martin, Angel, Connor, Angle, David Connor, Ameritic…"

"Wait." interrupted Dawn, her eyes shining. "One of those sounds familiar." Dawn searched her memory for how she'd heard the name. Overheard conversations came floating back to her. "Can we please have the file for Connor Angel?"

*

"Why the hell are we not taking the lift?" demanded Angel as he raced down the umpteenth flight of stairs, his feet barely touching the steps. He heard Cordelia utter another curse as she once again twisted her ankle in her platform sandals as Wesley responded.

"The lift? We were just following you!" Angel stopped abruptly causing Wesley to careen wildly into him. Even with Angel's vampire senses he fell the last few feet, grunting heavily as Wesley landed on top of him. Cordelia stood looking over them. Hands on hips and a frown on her face.

"What are you two doing on the floor?" she angrily questioned.

"The lift!" Angel yelled, extracting himself from the heap on the floor. Cordelia raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow.

"You can only get to Files and Records via the stairs, remember?" Wesley looked appropriately abashed whilst Angel swore and started running again. "Why are we such a rush anyway? It's not like he'll be able to find anything." Cordelia continued.

Angel paused for a second to look up a her. "But if he does find something we're screwed."

"True." agreed Wesley. "But it's not like he could get his memories back or anything." A tense silence from Angel greeted this statement. "Is it?"

Angel's face, if possible, grew even more grave. "It's like reality," he said, glancing at Cordelia. "they can't just erase an entire lifetime's worth of memories. They had to put it somewhere."

Cordelia was looking slightly sick. "Where did they put them?" she asked, her voice quavering.

"A medallion." As the implication of this hit both Wesley and Cordelia they set off down the stairs at top speed, practically keeping up with Angel.

*

Dawn's eyes were wide as she read the file over Jake's shoulder. She was experiencing a strange case of déjà vu. The only difference was that this time she wasn't the one discovering that she wasn't entirely a normal human being. "Jake?" she whispered comfortingly, as she laid a hand on his shoulder.

"What the hell?" he said, his breath coming in shaky spurts. The writing, the written evidence of this 'Connor Angel' he could ignore. After all, he was never actually mentioned by name. But the pictures.

Jake picked one of them up where it had fallen on the floor. It was a picture of that girl Cordelia, cradling him as a baby. Though according to the file she'd done more than just cradle him when he'd got back from that hell dimension.

Hell dimension. Jake croaked out a strangled laugh. "A Hell dimension." he babbled. "I grew up in a Hell dimension. Me?" he could feel Dawn's concerned eyes on him and he suddenly wished she wasn't there, that she wasn't seeing him this weak. "Me? Who thought he'd grown up in a perfect little suburban house."

He gripped another of the pictures, an eight by ten black and white image of him that looked as though it had been taken by a mall security camera. It also looked exactly how he'd looked in his Graduation photo. That hair that his mother had bugged him to get cut for weeks. He remembered laughing as he ran from her in the house as she'd brandished a pair of scissors at him. No, he told himself, apparently that had never happened. Apparently his mother was dead. Or more appropriately his mother had been un-dead and was now a pile of ash.

He could feel the tears on the verge of falling and held them off by sheer force of will, with the worry that if he started crying he might never stop. A new gasp of surprise from Dawn made him turn towards her. She was holding a bag that looked like it contained some sort of pendant and was staring transfixed at the note attached to it.

She suddenly seemed to notice Jake's attention on her and hurriedly tried to hide the bag. "Jake, no." she began as without a word he leaned over and wrenched it from her grasp. "Jake please, no." implored Dawn, sounding as though she was on the verge of tears herself.

Jake read the note, feeling as though his entire life was spiralling out of control with every passing word. The truth was that the descent had begun the moment he'd punched that mugger, an event that felt like a lifetime ago. Who knew which lifetime. Jake finished reading the note and swallowed heavily, trying to dislodge the knot of fear that had settled in his throat, his stomach, his heart and every other area of his body. He raised the pendant to admire it in the light, whispering up at it so quietly that Dawn had to strain to hear. "My memories."

*

Angel threw himself through the doors leading to the Files and Records room, angrily striding up to the secretary. "Where is he?" he ground out furiously. She merely stared up at him, bland smile securely in place.

"Who is he? If you wish to request for information please do so. I am, after all, File and Records." Angel was considering how useful reeling off and punching the woman might be when Wesley's hand tugging his sleeve drew his attention to Cordelia.

She had wandered away from the desk and was standing staring down one of the aisles of filing cabinets, a stricken look on her face. Angel and Wesley strode over to her, coming to an abrupt halt as they saw what she was looking at.

*

"Jake?" Dawn's voice was filled with worry as she looked at the three people stood at the end of the row. Jake's eyes followed hers. He stared at Wesley, remembering what the file had said about his involvement in his childhood. And he stared at Cordelia, remembering everything it said about her. And he stared at Angel. Involuntarily, Jake's mind flicked through images of the man he had always considered his father. Showing him the North Star. Teaching him how to light a fire. Explaining how to properly bait a line. Jake's eyes returned to the medallion resting in his hand.

"Connor, no." Angel's voice was commanding. But he'd used the wrong name. His name was Jake. And it was Jake who was staring at the pendant, not Connor. He didn't know who Connor was.

The sound of shattering metal was deafening in the cavernous room of Files and Records.