Summary: It's a small world after all.
9th in the Cold Summer Series
*~*~*
Angel was grinning when he woke up. Chandra was cradled in his arm, her head lying on his chest as she breathed softly. He stayed quiet and listened to the steady sound of her heartbeat. She was alive and nuzzled against him. Vulnerable, leaving herself to his protection. Even though he was a creature she was born to destroy.
With a heavy sigh, Chandra opened her eyes and gazed up at him. "Morning?"
He smiled. "I think it's afternoon." He kissed her softly.
She kissed him back with a smile then looked away, standing and heading to the shower. He knew this was all really hard for her, especially after what Drusilla had said about her baby. For a slayer to be bringing about the end of the world with her child… He could only imagine how she felt.
He sat up and looked over to Faith. She was still in bed and still in a coma. He hoped that he could undo whatever it was that Dru had done.
Standing and stretching, her glanced about the room. Cordelia had already left. He felt bad for her too. She had let herself get involved in something that she knew she shouldn't have. Xander was with Anya and she knew that. But he could understand her loneliness. Besides the guys, she really didn't have anyone like she used to.
He went to the closet and began packing. They would head back to LA tonight. They could take Faith with them. But they needed to leave the influence of the Hellmouth.
*~*~*
Xander stormed into the Magic Box and shot a panicked look to Giles. "Is Anya here?"
Giles took in the ragged appearance of the young man and shook his head. "No."
"Shit! Where is she?" he began to pace, running his fingers through his hair.
"I'm sure she'll show up." He began to unload a box of new items.
"You don't understand! I was at her place all night. I didn't mean to fall asleep out in the hall, but when I woke up the door was open a little and I went in."
"Xander, she probably went out for breakfast. Or maybe…"
"Her gun is gone."
*~*~*
Cordelia remained calm and drove where Anya told her. Of course, Anya had a gun to her head. That was a bit convincing. "Look," Cordelia began smoothly. "This isn't the way to solve this."
"Just shut up!" The gun was trembling in Anya's hand. "It's all your fault. And if I get rid of you then he'll be mine again."
"He is yours." She slowly let her foot off the gas.
"Oh really? Then why did he sleep with you? Why did he see fit to hurt me?"
"We made a mistake. But you have to believe me, Anya. He loves you. He doesn't love me." When she said those words, her heart dropped with the realization that they were true. "He doesn't love me."
Anya finally noted the slowing. "What are you doing? This isn't how it's supposed to happen! I'm supposed to make you go to a secluded location and kill you."
Cordelia slammed on the breaks as she pulled over. "Okay, first of all, you're not going to kill me and second, who told you that?"
"The television. It's what happens on the shows."
Don't laugh at the woman with the gun, Cordelia reminded herself before she got out of the car. "That's TV. That's acting. That's not real." She sighed. "Look, if it makes you feel better, I'm leaving again. So I won't be around to… Hey! How did you know anyway?"
Anya got out as well but left the gun on the seat. "He told me."
Cordelia smiled. "See? He told you because he doesn't want to lie to you and he wants you to know what a mistake it was."
"Are you sure?" She looked down.
"He loves you. You know what? One of the first things he told me when I called was that he was going to marry you. You're it. You're the one."
Anya sniffled. "Please go."
Cordelia motioned to the car. "Let me give you a ride back."
*~*~*
"Anya!" Xander ran to her and pulled her into his arms, checking her over. "The gun was gone, are you okay?"
Anya hugged him back. "I'm fine. And I love you. I want to marry you."
Giles smiled at the couple.
*~*~*
Olivia showed up as dusk approached. Giles was just finishing with the till. He glanced up at her and immediately knew something was wrong. "Olivia?"
She leaned on the counter. "Chandra and Angel are preparing to take Faith back to LA. Wesley is packing up the last of his stuff from your place." She looked away. "I have to go with them."
He nodded slowly. "I see. And why is that?"
"Because I have a responsibility. To Chandra and her unborn child."
"Then I see you've made your choice." He shoved the money in the deposit bag.
"Damn it all, Ripper, I don't have a choice! This is something I have to do. You know damn well that I would rather stay here with you."
"Then stay." He finally looked to her eyes. "Stay with me and let Angel take care of her."
"I… I can't. She needs me."
"I'll be fine."
They turned to Chandra as she walked in with Angel behind her. "It's okay. You're wanted here, Olivia, and that's what counts." She smiled. "Not that I don't want you around, but let's face it, Giles here is crazy about you." She stepped up to her watcher and hugged her. "You're only a phone call and a couple of cities away. It's not like you'll be in England."
Olivia hugged her charge back. "Are you sure?"
"Very sure."
Angel smiled. "We have to go. But don't worry. We'll look after her."
Olivia smiled and leaned over the counter to kiss Giles.
*~*~*
The trip home had been extremely quiet. Chandra and Cordelia were in the back with Faith nestled between them while Wesley kept his eyes out the passenger side. Angel watched the road and fumbled through his mind as to possible reasons behind Faith's coma. In the back of his brain he had already come to the dim conclusion that they would need to track down Dru and find a way to make her reverse it.
About two miles from their freeway exit, Angel pulled over. Wesley woke up and looked to him. "What's wrong?" Angel grinned and pointed to the broken down truck in front of them.
Lindsey McDonald's truck.
Angel casually got out of the car and strolled up to the figure bent over the engine. "Need a hand?" He chuckled.
Lindsey froze for a second before slowly standing up straight and rolling his eyes with a groan. "Oh just great." He looked back to the car full of people. "And you brought a whole bunch of your buddies. Well, this looks promising." He wiped his hands on a greasy rag and then tossed it aside, closing up the hood.
Angel was still grinning. "Need a tow?"
"I don't need anything from you. In fact, thanks for letting the entire highway patrol know what I think about them. I have to come back to this shit town because I'm out of money. I had to end up using most of it for bail and the fine I received."
Angel whistled. "Wow, poor guy. I'm heartbroken." He smiled.
"Holy shit! CJ?" Chandra chimed as she jogged up.
Lindsey looked like his was going into shock. "Vegas?" He swooped her into a hug.
Angel quickly tore her away and had Lindsey by the throat, snarling. "Don't touch her."
"Angel, chill! I know him!"
He turned to her. "What?"
"That's CJ. Don't worry. He's not a threat."
Lindsey grinned then choked as Angel briefly tightened his hold before releasing him. "Thanks," he gasped out.
Angel looked to Chandra. "He called you `Vegas'?"
"That's where I'm from. We met there. He knew my foster mom. She was a showgirl. I call him CJ. `Country Jock.'" She went up to Lindsey and hugged him again.
He hugged her back. "What are you doing with this crowd?"
"I'm part of Angel's gang now. I'm a slayer."
He smiled proudly. "Really? Vegas, that's great!"
"Yup! And I'm pregnant!"
Lindsey lost his smile. "What?"
*~*~*
With a little help from Gunn and Chandra, Lindsey's truck was up and running and soon they were all headed back to the Hyperian. The lawyer's questions had remained unanswered however and this was obviously agitating him.
Angel carried Faith straight to his room and laid her down gently, tucking her in.
"So what happened to her?" Lindsey leaned on the door, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
Angel kept his eyes on Faith. "Dru happened."
"What? But I thought she left."
"She came back. With Darla."
"So then why did we come back here where they could find us?"
"Darla's dust."
Lindsey swallowed and moved from the door. "She's... You killed her."
Angel finally turned to him. "I didn't have to. `Vegas' did." He sneered out the pet name for the slayer and let Lindsey soak up the information as he stormed out and into the lobby. "Chandra, there's a room already fixed up for you."
She looked to him. "You mean I'm not staying with you?"
"You can stay with `CJ' if you want to. I don't care." He grabbed his jacket and headed for the door.
Wesley jogged up to him. "Where are you headed?"
"I need to go buy some fresher blood packs. I'll be back before dawn."
Wesley turned back to Chandra who had the most hurt look on her face before running upstairs and slamming the door.
*~*~*
"Vegas?" Lindsey cracked her door open. "You okay?"
She was huddled on the bed crying softly. "What the fuck do you think?"
He stepped in and closed the door, going over to her. "What's going on?"
Chandra sniffled and looked to him. "I was here in LA, just doing the slayer thing when I met him."
"Angel?"
"Yeah. Then we ended up going to Sunnydale and one thing led to another and… well I'm pregnant with Angel's baby."
He sat there for a moment as if waiting for a punch line. "Ve… Chandra, how? I mean, vampire's can't breed."
"My blood. My blood brought his… sperm to life. And now I'm probably carrying the…"
"Apocalyptic child…" He stood and looked in thought. "I never thought it would be you."
She sat up. "What do you mean?"
"Wolfram and Hart, the company I used to work for, they had this scroll, Angel has it now. It told of a `Shanshu.' A prophecy about Angel."
"I heard about that. He's supposed be all human and stuff when his tasks are complete."
"Eh, not exactly."
She scowled. "What do you mean?"
"Well, it wasn't really that he would `get' life as much as he would `give' life." He looked away from her. "I didn't know it would be you."
"You knew this would happen and you didn't do anything to stop it?" She swung her legs out of the bed and stood. "Why? Why would you let something so evil happen?"
He looked at her with sad eyes. "Because I was that evil. Because I worked for people who wanted that to happen."
"But now…"
"But now I'm on the right track again. And I'm gonna prove it."
"How?"
"By getting the second scroll."
"Second scroll?"
"There was another scroll that accompanied the first and told of how to defeat the child."
"But CJ," she whispered, "it's my baby."
*~*~*
Angel stuffed the blood bags into the fridge and went back to his room to check on Faith. She was sleeping peacefully in her coma, none the wiser that Lindsey was here. Angel had to admit though that the sneaky lawyer might actually come in handy.
Sighing, Angel shut the door and went over to check on Chandra. He opened the door silently but a low growl escaped when he found her cradled in Lindsey's arms while she slept. But the lawyer looked up to him, awake. "Shh," he whispered as he slowly detached her from him and went to the vampire. "She just fell asleep." His voice was still hushed as he ushered Angel out into the hall.
Angel glowered at him. "What's going on?"
"I was just helping her sleep. I was impregnating her with demon spawn."
Angel let his vampire face slip on as he grabbed Lindsey around the throat. "She can't hear you scream if I cut off your air supply."
Lindsey narrowed his eyes and squeaked out: "I love her."
Angel loosened his grip. "What?"
"I love her. She's all I have left that even resembles a family." He slapped Angel hand away while the vampire pondered this. "I would never hurt her and in fact, I'm going to help. But for her. Not for you."
"And just how are you going to do that?"
"I'm going to help you bring down Wolfram and Hart."
*~*~*
Lilah sat down at her desk and looked at the hand written memo there from Charlie.
He's back.
9th in the Cold Summer Series
*~*~*
Angel was grinning when he woke up. Chandra was cradled in his arm, her head lying on his chest as she breathed softly. He stayed quiet and listened to the steady sound of her heartbeat. She was alive and nuzzled against him. Vulnerable, leaving herself to his protection. Even though he was a creature she was born to destroy.
With a heavy sigh, Chandra opened her eyes and gazed up at him. "Morning?"
He smiled. "I think it's afternoon." He kissed her softly.
She kissed him back with a smile then looked away, standing and heading to the shower. He knew this was all really hard for her, especially after what Drusilla had said about her baby. For a slayer to be bringing about the end of the world with her child… He could only imagine how she felt.
He sat up and looked over to Faith. She was still in bed and still in a coma. He hoped that he could undo whatever it was that Dru had done.
Standing and stretching, her glanced about the room. Cordelia had already left. He felt bad for her too. She had let herself get involved in something that she knew she shouldn't have. Xander was with Anya and she knew that. But he could understand her loneliness. Besides the guys, she really didn't have anyone like she used to.
He went to the closet and began packing. They would head back to LA tonight. They could take Faith with them. But they needed to leave the influence of the Hellmouth.
*~*~*
Xander stormed into the Magic Box and shot a panicked look to Giles. "Is Anya here?"
Giles took in the ragged appearance of the young man and shook his head. "No."
"Shit! Where is she?" he began to pace, running his fingers through his hair.
"I'm sure she'll show up." He began to unload a box of new items.
"You don't understand! I was at her place all night. I didn't mean to fall asleep out in the hall, but when I woke up the door was open a little and I went in."
"Xander, she probably went out for breakfast. Or maybe…"
"Her gun is gone."
*~*~*
Cordelia remained calm and drove where Anya told her. Of course, Anya had a gun to her head. That was a bit convincing. "Look," Cordelia began smoothly. "This isn't the way to solve this."
"Just shut up!" The gun was trembling in Anya's hand. "It's all your fault. And if I get rid of you then he'll be mine again."
"He is yours." She slowly let her foot off the gas.
"Oh really? Then why did he sleep with you? Why did he see fit to hurt me?"
"We made a mistake. But you have to believe me, Anya. He loves you. He doesn't love me." When she said those words, her heart dropped with the realization that they were true. "He doesn't love me."
Anya finally noted the slowing. "What are you doing? This isn't how it's supposed to happen! I'm supposed to make you go to a secluded location and kill you."
Cordelia slammed on the breaks as she pulled over. "Okay, first of all, you're not going to kill me and second, who told you that?"
"The television. It's what happens on the shows."
Don't laugh at the woman with the gun, Cordelia reminded herself before she got out of the car. "That's TV. That's acting. That's not real." She sighed. "Look, if it makes you feel better, I'm leaving again. So I won't be around to… Hey! How did you know anyway?"
Anya got out as well but left the gun on the seat. "He told me."
Cordelia smiled. "See? He told you because he doesn't want to lie to you and he wants you to know what a mistake it was."
"Are you sure?" She looked down.
"He loves you. You know what? One of the first things he told me when I called was that he was going to marry you. You're it. You're the one."
Anya sniffled. "Please go."
Cordelia motioned to the car. "Let me give you a ride back."
*~*~*
"Anya!" Xander ran to her and pulled her into his arms, checking her over. "The gun was gone, are you okay?"
Anya hugged him back. "I'm fine. And I love you. I want to marry you."
Giles smiled at the couple.
*~*~*
Olivia showed up as dusk approached. Giles was just finishing with the till. He glanced up at her and immediately knew something was wrong. "Olivia?"
She leaned on the counter. "Chandra and Angel are preparing to take Faith back to LA. Wesley is packing up the last of his stuff from your place." She looked away. "I have to go with them."
He nodded slowly. "I see. And why is that?"
"Because I have a responsibility. To Chandra and her unborn child."
"Then I see you've made your choice." He shoved the money in the deposit bag.
"Damn it all, Ripper, I don't have a choice! This is something I have to do. You know damn well that I would rather stay here with you."
"Then stay." He finally looked to her eyes. "Stay with me and let Angel take care of her."
"I… I can't. She needs me."
"I'll be fine."
They turned to Chandra as she walked in with Angel behind her. "It's okay. You're wanted here, Olivia, and that's what counts." She smiled. "Not that I don't want you around, but let's face it, Giles here is crazy about you." She stepped up to her watcher and hugged her. "You're only a phone call and a couple of cities away. It's not like you'll be in England."
Olivia hugged her charge back. "Are you sure?"
"Very sure."
Angel smiled. "We have to go. But don't worry. We'll look after her."
Olivia smiled and leaned over the counter to kiss Giles.
*~*~*
The trip home had been extremely quiet. Chandra and Cordelia were in the back with Faith nestled between them while Wesley kept his eyes out the passenger side. Angel watched the road and fumbled through his mind as to possible reasons behind Faith's coma. In the back of his brain he had already come to the dim conclusion that they would need to track down Dru and find a way to make her reverse it.
About two miles from their freeway exit, Angel pulled over. Wesley woke up and looked to him. "What's wrong?" Angel grinned and pointed to the broken down truck in front of them.
Lindsey McDonald's truck.
Angel casually got out of the car and strolled up to the figure bent over the engine. "Need a hand?" He chuckled.
Lindsey froze for a second before slowly standing up straight and rolling his eyes with a groan. "Oh just great." He looked back to the car full of people. "And you brought a whole bunch of your buddies. Well, this looks promising." He wiped his hands on a greasy rag and then tossed it aside, closing up the hood.
Angel was still grinning. "Need a tow?"
"I don't need anything from you. In fact, thanks for letting the entire highway patrol know what I think about them. I have to come back to this shit town because I'm out of money. I had to end up using most of it for bail and the fine I received."
Angel whistled. "Wow, poor guy. I'm heartbroken." He smiled.
"Holy shit! CJ?" Chandra chimed as she jogged up.
Lindsey looked like his was going into shock. "Vegas?" He swooped her into a hug.
Angel quickly tore her away and had Lindsey by the throat, snarling. "Don't touch her."
"Angel, chill! I know him!"
He turned to her. "What?"
"That's CJ. Don't worry. He's not a threat."
Lindsey grinned then choked as Angel briefly tightened his hold before releasing him. "Thanks," he gasped out.
Angel looked to Chandra. "He called you `Vegas'?"
"That's where I'm from. We met there. He knew my foster mom. She was a showgirl. I call him CJ. `Country Jock.'" She went up to Lindsey and hugged him again.
He hugged her back. "What are you doing with this crowd?"
"I'm part of Angel's gang now. I'm a slayer."
He smiled proudly. "Really? Vegas, that's great!"
"Yup! And I'm pregnant!"
Lindsey lost his smile. "What?"
*~*~*
With a little help from Gunn and Chandra, Lindsey's truck was up and running and soon they were all headed back to the Hyperian. The lawyer's questions had remained unanswered however and this was obviously agitating him.
Angel carried Faith straight to his room and laid her down gently, tucking her in.
"So what happened to her?" Lindsey leaned on the door, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
Angel kept his eyes on Faith. "Dru happened."
"What? But I thought she left."
"She came back. With Darla."
"So then why did we come back here where they could find us?"
"Darla's dust."
Lindsey swallowed and moved from the door. "She's... You killed her."
Angel finally turned to him. "I didn't have to. `Vegas' did." He sneered out the pet name for the slayer and let Lindsey soak up the information as he stormed out and into the lobby. "Chandra, there's a room already fixed up for you."
She looked to him. "You mean I'm not staying with you?"
"You can stay with `CJ' if you want to. I don't care." He grabbed his jacket and headed for the door.
Wesley jogged up to him. "Where are you headed?"
"I need to go buy some fresher blood packs. I'll be back before dawn."
Wesley turned back to Chandra who had the most hurt look on her face before running upstairs and slamming the door.
*~*~*
"Vegas?" Lindsey cracked her door open. "You okay?"
She was huddled on the bed crying softly. "What the fuck do you think?"
He stepped in and closed the door, going over to her. "What's going on?"
Chandra sniffled and looked to him. "I was here in LA, just doing the slayer thing when I met him."
"Angel?"
"Yeah. Then we ended up going to Sunnydale and one thing led to another and… well I'm pregnant with Angel's baby."
He sat there for a moment as if waiting for a punch line. "Ve… Chandra, how? I mean, vampire's can't breed."
"My blood. My blood brought his… sperm to life. And now I'm probably carrying the…"
"Apocalyptic child…" He stood and looked in thought. "I never thought it would be you."
She sat up. "What do you mean?"
"Wolfram and Hart, the company I used to work for, they had this scroll, Angel has it now. It told of a `Shanshu.' A prophecy about Angel."
"I heard about that. He's supposed be all human and stuff when his tasks are complete."
"Eh, not exactly."
She scowled. "What do you mean?"
"Well, it wasn't really that he would `get' life as much as he would `give' life." He looked away from her. "I didn't know it would be you."
"You knew this would happen and you didn't do anything to stop it?" She swung her legs out of the bed and stood. "Why? Why would you let something so evil happen?"
He looked at her with sad eyes. "Because I was that evil. Because I worked for people who wanted that to happen."
"But now…"
"But now I'm on the right track again. And I'm gonna prove it."
"How?"
"By getting the second scroll."
"Second scroll?"
"There was another scroll that accompanied the first and told of how to defeat the child."
"But CJ," she whispered, "it's my baby."
*~*~*
Angel stuffed the blood bags into the fridge and went back to his room to check on Faith. She was sleeping peacefully in her coma, none the wiser that Lindsey was here. Angel had to admit though that the sneaky lawyer might actually come in handy.
Sighing, Angel shut the door and went over to check on Chandra. He opened the door silently but a low growl escaped when he found her cradled in Lindsey's arms while she slept. But the lawyer looked up to him, awake. "Shh," he whispered as he slowly detached her from him and went to the vampire. "She just fell asleep." His voice was still hushed as he ushered Angel out into the hall.
Angel glowered at him. "What's going on?"
"I was just helping her sleep. I was impregnating her with demon spawn."
Angel let his vampire face slip on as he grabbed Lindsey around the throat. "She can't hear you scream if I cut off your air supply."
Lindsey narrowed his eyes and squeaked out: "I love her."
Angel loosened his grip. "What?"
"I love her. She's all I have left that even resembles a family." He slapped Angel hand away while the vampire pondered this. "I would never hurt her and in fact, I'm going to help. But for her. Not for you."
"And just how are you going to do that?"
"I'm going to help you bring down Wolfram and Hart."
*~*~*
Lilah sat down at her desk and looked at the hand written memo there from Charlie.
He's back.