CHAPTER 3
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, although I wish I did because I'd find a way to put Angel and Buffy back together; where they belong. You will also notice that I've snagged some lines from a few episodes on either Buffy or Angel.
Summary: What if the Oracles had in fact restored Angel to his vampire state instead of taking back the day (In "I Will Remember You" on Angel) so that a prophesized miracle could occur?
Historical Note: This trilogy takes place between the fourth and fifth season of Buffy, and between the first and second season of Angel. You may also notice some of the later elements are from later seasons of either show.
Author's note: this trilogy will go back and fourth between Sunnydale and L.A. More so in this first series. The second there isn't much crossover's going on, there may be a few though. I really tried to keep to both shows storylines as much as possible. Some events (The Glory bit in season 5 on Buffy for example) will be either pushed back or taken out in general. These events may have been important on the shows, but not in this story.
The next evening, Willow came home from her last class to find Buffy packing her clothes.
"Hey Buffy, ah, what are you doing?" Willow asked as she shut their door and walked over to her bed and set her book bag down.
"Packing," Buffy explained as she walked over to her dresser and pulled out a few more items and walked back over to her bed.
"Oh yeah, but Buffy, why are packing half of the dorm?" Willow asked as Buffy threw another shirt into her overnight bag. She then realized she had gotten carried away with packing clothes due to her wandering mind.
"Oh, woops," Buffy said as she began to unpack some of the stuff.
"Buffy, are you alright? You seem kinda...different," Willow said as she watched Buffy quickly put away some of her clothes.
"Willow, I'm pregnant, of coarse I seem different," she told Willow. Willow looked at her friend knowing Buffy knew what she meant.
"It's just, I haven't seen Angel in months. The last time I saw him we both agreed to move on with our lives, and now, I'm going back to LA to tell him that he's going to be a father. Something we both thought could never happen," Buffy explained. Willow walked over to her friend and put her arm around her.
"Buffy, you know it's going to be ok," she told her. "Just march up to Angel and say 'Listen up mister, you're going to be a father whether you like it or not!'" Willow told her, trying to be her helpful self.
"Thanks Will," Buffy said as she zipped up her bag. "Tell everyone I'll see them in a few days," Buffy told her as she walked over to the door.
"You'll call me when you get there?" Willow asked. Every since Buffy had found out she was pregnant, Willow had become more concerned for Buffy's well being, she had become more like a sister to her. Buffy looked back and smiled at her best friend.
"Of coarse," she promised before she left. Willow quickly remembered that Angel had moved not too long ago and was no longer where he was the last time Buffy had gone to visit.
"Buffy wait!" Willow exclaimed. Buffy quickly turned around and looked at Willow worriedly.
"What is it?" Buffy asked standing in the doorway.
"There was an accident in Angel's building not too long ago, and they uh, had to re locate. His business and residents is now located in a hotel. Here, I'll give you the address," Willow explained as she quickly ran over to her dresser and pulled out a small piece of paper.
"Here," Willow said as she handed the small piece of paper to her friend.
"Thanks," Buffy said as she looked down at the piece of paper, then back to Willow. She smiled at her and sighed before making her way towards the door once more.
In LA...
"Cordelia, would you just calm down? Now I think you're overreacting," Wesley told her. Cordelia turned around and looked at him.
"How can I? Angel's out there fighting when he's in the middle of a major brooding fit. One that has lasted for like a gazillion months," Cordelia explained.
"But Angel's always brooding," Wesley reminded her. Cordelia rolled her eyes at him.
"But he's more brooding than usual, and it's not just because of Doyle..." Cordelia trailed off at the thought of Doyle. She missed him a lot, and wished that he was still here so that she wouldn't have to put up with the head splitting visions that Doyle had passed on to her before he had died.
"It's because of; surprise, surprise; Buffy," Cordelia told him. Wesley looked at her confused.
"How do you figure?" Wesley asked obviously missing something.
"Oh yeah, you weren't here for that," Cordelia realized. "Ok, Buffy came here around Thanksgiving, and they were attacked by a Morah demon..." Cordelia began.
"A Morah demon, how fascinating!" Wesley interrupted as he walked over to her. Cordelia rolled her eyes at him again.
"Whatever, anyways, he was infected with the things blood and became human. As soon as he found that out, him and Buffy, well, lets just say they totally took advantage of the situation," Cordelia told Wesley. He looked at her for a moment before finally realizing what she was referring to.
"Thank you Cordelia, but..." Wesley began.
"I'm not finished!" Cordelia exclaimed. "Ok, to make a long story short, they found out that by Angel being human, he'd become a liability to Buffy or something and the end of day were coming? -I had no clue what that means. Apparently Angel did because he went back to the Oracles and asked them to make him all 'Grrr' again..." Cordelia explained making a monster expression with her hands.
"A vampire?" Wesley guessed.
"Of coarse a vampire what'd do you think I meant!?' Cordelia exclaimed.
"Is that all?" Wesley asked hoping she was done talking.
"That's about the it," Cordelia sighed.
"Well in that case, I think he disserves some extra brooding time," Wesley told her. Cordelia just glared at him.
"What?" he asked confused.
"You're not helping!" Cordelia said as she threw her hands up in the air. She sat down behind the front desk and picked up a fashion magazine she had lying on the front desk and began flipping through it.
* * *
A few hours later, Angel came through the door with the side of his shirt torn as he dropped his weapons on the floor in the corner.
"My god, Angel what happened?" Wesley asked as he walked over to Angel.
"Gee Wes, I don't know," Angel said sarcastically.
"Right," Wesley answered; realizing it was a stupid question to ask in their line of work. Angel then headed towards his office, where he spent most of his time now a day's.
"Angel wait," Cordelia called out. Angel slowly turned around.
"What is it Cordy?" he asked. "I'm tired, and I'm not in the mood for whatever you're about to say," he told her.
"Well, it's just you're always doing that," Cordelia told him. Angel looked at her confused.
"Doing what?" he asked not knowing what she was talking about.
"That, that thing when you go straight up to your room or office and brood when you get back from work," Cordelia began.
"Cordelia, I..." Angel began.
"No, you've been brooding more than usual," Cordelia told him. "Look, I may be out of line, but every since Buffy came to town and you were turned human; you've been in a brooding rut every since," Cordelia explained. Angel walked closer towards her.
"You're right, you are out of line. You have no idea what I had to give up for..." Angel trailed off as he saw Buffy walked in the main lobby. "Buffy?" Angel said almost in a whisper.
"Yeah well I think you should..." Cordelia began un aware that Buffy had just walked in.
"Buffy?" Wesley asked shocked as he noticed her standing in the doorway.
"Yes Buffy, who do you think I'm talking about?" Cordelia asked impatiently. She then noticed that Wesley and Angel were staring at something behind her. She quickly tuned around and jumped as she discovered Buffy standing in the doorway. Buffy gazed around the lobby as she continued to stand in front of the door.
"Nice place. More space than the last one," Buffy noted as she scanned the lobby. As soon as her gaze reached Angel, she noticed his gaze had been locked on her; or her stomach.
"Buffy, you look so...." Cordelia paused as she gazed across Buffy's features searching for a word as she noticed Buffy's bulging stomach, "PREGNANT!" She exclaimed; although everyone else had already noticed the moment he saw her standing in the door.
"Dear god," Wesley whispered as he stood up. Buffy looked down at the ground.
"Buffy, you're, you're pregnant!" Wesley repeated as he looked down at her stomach.
"Ah, I think I covered that already Wes," Cordelia told him still sounding shocked. Wesley looked at Buffy with a confused and excited expression.
"Cordelia how are you?" Buffy asked as she placed a hand on her stomach; trying to switch the subject.
"Good. I'm good. You?" she asked nervously.
"I've been better," She told Cordelia as she looked up and met Angel's gaze once more.
"If you don't mind me asking; how'd this happened?" Wesley asked, thinking she had been impregnated with some sort of evil spawn; like what happened to Cordelia a while back. Buffy looked back towards Angel, silently answering Wesley's question.
"Oh god, Angel got you pregnant?" Cordelia said shocked. "But wait, he's not evil; are you?" She asked him quickly. "Cause Angelus would never wear those pants. He's more into the leather," She explained. Angel and Buffy continued to look at each other as Cordelia rambled on.
"I think we need to talk," Angel said as he walked towards Buffy. He then noticed the fresh cut on her upper arm as he stood in front of her.
"You're hurt," he told her as he looked at her concerned. Buffy gave a weak smile.
"There were some vamps outside," she explained. Wesley and Cordelia could feel the tension in the room, but neither of them said anything as the room fell silent.
"Aha, well. Why don't you two go and talk, while Wes and I finish up down here," Cordelia suggested. Angel then motioned Buffy to the large staircase as Wesley and Cordelia looked at each other. Wesley waited until they were in Angel's room before he spoke up.
"I'd better call Giles," he told Cordelia as he walked over to the front desk, which had become known as Cordy's desk, and grabbed the phone.
"Good idea. This could take a while," Cordelia said as she plopped down in her chair.
* * *
"Can I get you anything else?" Angel asked as he finished bandaging her arm.
"No, I, I'm fine," Buffy told him, risking a quick glance at him. Angel nodded as he stood up and threw away the wrappers, leaving Buffy sitting on his bed.
Angel returned a few seconds later, pulling up a chair close beside the bed. "So, how have you… been?"
"I've been...alright," she assured him. Angel nodded.
"Buffy, why didn't you tell me sooner?" Angel asked hurt. Buffy could since the hurt in his voice, as she knew he'd be.
"I, I knew that before I came here around Thanksgiving that you were trying to move on with your life; before we..." Buffy trailed off. "So when I found out that I was pregnant, I decided it would be easier if I..."
"If you didn't tell me you were pregnant, with my child," Angel finished now sounding a little angry.
"Angel, at the time I had no idea what I was going to do," Buffy explained.
"So you were just go through this whole thing and give birth to our child, without even telling me?" Angel asked frustrated.
"No, I...I had know idea what I was going to do. We were both trying to move on, and I knew this would only complicate us even more," Buffy explained.
"Yeah, because having a child is no big deal," Angel said sarcastically as he got up and began to pace around nervously.
"That's not fair," Buffy began.
"No, it isn't fair. You should've told me when you first found out that you were pregnant," Angel told her in an angry voice.
"Angel, I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you," Buffy told him honestly. Angel realized that he was being too hard on her, and sat down beside her.
"No Buffy, I shouldn't have yelled at you like that," Angel told her as he put his hand on hers. Angel wrapped his arms around her, as he had wanted to do every day.
"I'm so sorry," He told her as he held her tightly. "We'll get through this; I promise,"
* * *
In the lobby, Cordelia strained to hear what Buffy and Angel were talking about when Wesley walked into the room.
"Shouldn't you be working, or flipping through your magazine?" Wesley asked as he watched Cordelia trying to ease drop on Buffy and Angel. Cordelia jumped at the sound of someone's voice.
"Wesley, God! Why do you have to sneak up on people!" Cordelia exclaimed as she quickly walked over to her desk.
"I'm so sorry. If I would have known you were trying to ease drop on Angel and Buffy's private conversations than I wouldn't have disturbed you," Wesley said sarcastically as he walked over to her.
"I wasn't ease dropping, I was just..." Cordelia paused trying to come up with an excuse, but was failing horribly.
"Aha," Wesley said not buying it. "Well, in case you were interested, I just got off the phone with Giles," Wesley informed her.
"And?" Cordelia asked as she walked over to him eager to find out what he had found out from Giles.
"He knew about Buffy's pregnancy. He, he said that Buffy dropped out of College a few months ago or so because of it," Wesley explained. "He also said that she's been through a lot in the past few months. She had to break the news to her mother and everyone else; alone," Wesley began. Cordelia then felt sorry for Buffy. She couldn't imagine doing that on her own.
"God. Poor Buffy," Cordelia whispered.
Wesley continued, "For a while, Joyce wouldn't talk to her, but eventually she came around. He also told me that there was..." Wesley paused, not wanting to say anything. Cordelia looked at him.
"There was what?" she asked needing to know.
"There was another guy in Buffy's life before all of this," Wesley told her. Cordelia looked at him shocked.
"What?" she asked confused.
"His name was Parker….I think. Anyways, he and Buffy were seeing each other in the beginning of the school year. He, um, lead her on, then broke it off with her and acted as if she was just another classmate," Wesley explained.
"Oh god," Cordelia said. "Buffy was used by an over sexed male and kicked to the curb. Those are the worst," Cordelia told him as if she knew from experience.
"Giles told me she was hurt pretty badly after Parker used her," Wesley added.
"Well yeah, I mean first she sleeps with Angel, turning him evil, then the first guy she meets after Angel leaves uses her and dumps her like a stray dog," Cordelia said in her usual bland way.
"Precisely."
"Do you think that this baby may be the other guys?" Cordelia asked. Almost instantly after she had asked her question, she received one of her painful visions.
Her knees buckled, causing her to drop to the floor before Wesley was able to catch her. She clutched her head as Wesley held her. A few seconds later, her vision ended, leaving her head throbbing.
"Cordelia, what did you see?" Wesley asked as he helped Cordelia back up on her feet. She leaned on her desk for a second as the split pain left her head.
"The baby is Angel's," Cordelia assured him, still in pain from the vision she had just gotten.
"How do you know?" he asked.
"My vision. It was weird. I've never had one like it before. I guess The Powers That Be wanted us to be clear on that; for whatever reason," Cordelia said in confusion as she thought out loud; trying to figure out why she had gotten a vision with a very blunt answer to something she and Wesley were talking about.
"So, I guess there's no reason to question who the father of the baby is then." Cordelia figured. "Unless I want to be hit with another one of my fabulous visions," Cordelia said as she walked over to the couch and sat down.
"Also. There's trouble as usual," she added as she took some painkillers.
"Did you get a name?" Wesley asked as he grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. Cordelia looked at him worriedly.
"Spike," She whispered in disbelief. "He's here, in L.A.," She told him.
"Spikes in trouble?" Wesley asked confused. Cordelia shook her head.
"No, I think he's the one going to be causing the trouble," Cordelia explained.
"We need to tell Angel," Wesley told her. He sighed before he began up the stairs.
* * *
Buffy and Angel were catching up on what had been going on between the two since they last saw each other when Wesley knocked on the door. Angel looked up.
"Come in," Angel called out.
"Sorry to interrupt, but there's trouble," Wesley told them. Angel's expression turned serious.
"What kind?" Angel asked quickly.
"Spike's in town," Wesley told him. "Cordelia didn't see why," he added. Angel looked at Buffy for a second before he got up.
"I'm on it," Angel said as he grabbed his coat. Buffy got up and followed him. Angel quickly turned around.
"You're staying here," he instructed.
"No way, Spike's my problem," she told him.
"Buffy, you're not going; it's not safe. You're pregnant," Angel reminded her.
"Angel, I've been out fighting in Sunnydale this whole time. Besides, I can take Spike," Buffy told him.
"Buffy, I can't..." Angel began.
"Angel, I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself," Buffy told him. Angel sighed. He was not to thrilled about the idea of Buffy out fighting while she was carrying their child.
"Fine, let's go," he said giving up as they ran down the stairs.