They spent the rest of the day doing easy work. Nobody wanted to get into a fight with a demon or a vampire and end up injured so soon after last time.

Gunn went out for takeaway and brought back a couple of movies and they sat watching them as they ate. Everyone went home around ten o clock and Cordelia collapsed into bed shortly after.

She awoke in the middle of the night to a strange sensation. It went away but came back again quickly. She grinned when she realised what it was.

She shoved back the sheets and ran out of the room and down the hall to Angel's room.

She burst in without knocking and sat on the edge of his bed. "Angel? Wake up!"

"What?" He asked groggily and then sat up straight. "Is the baby coming?"

She laughed. "No, it's kicking. Here, feel."

She grabbed his hand and placed it on her bump.

The baby kicked a few times and they were both smiling.

"It's amazing." He told her. "It's really there."

"Yeah, because I got fat because there was no baby." She teased and placed her hand on his. "It is really there, isn't it?"

He laughed at her. "Do you want to get in?"

She looked unsure for a moment.

"Of course you don't." He replied instead of letting her answer.

"No, that wasn't it. I was just wondering if you were wearing anything under there." She told him sheepishly.

"I've got something on." He replied and then smiled. "It gets cold in here at night."

She slid in bed with him and turned so she was lying on her side, facing away from him.

He wrapped his arm around her so his hand was resting on her abdomen. He heard her heartbeat quicken.

"Are you warm enough?" He whispered, pulling the blankets around them.

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Get some sleep." He told her and kissed the top of her head gently.

"Good night Angel." She whispered and closed her eyes.

When he woke up she was gone but she'd left a note on his nightstand. 'Gone for my sonogram, see you later, love Cordelia.'

What the hell was a sonogram? He wondered as he got dressed.

Wes's answer calmed him down. He was expecting a lot worse that a picture of the baby.

Sonogram implied surgery or something being cut off or some other nasty thing.

He waited a couple of hours for her to come back, impatiently pacing around the office until he annoyed everyone, before calling her cell. He was seriously thinking that Wes had lied to him.

"Where are you?" He asked as soon as she picked up.

"I'm right around the corner." She promised. "I'll be back in five minutes."

"Happy now?" Wes asked in amusement. Seeing the vampire all worked up was funny.

He nodded. "She sounded okay."

"Angel, sonogram really is a picture of the baby. In England it's called an ultrasound. She'll come back with a picture of the baby. The doctor checks to see if anything is wrong and if the baby is growing as it should do."

"Oh." He seemed satisfied but then realised what Wes had said. "There could be something wrong with the baby?"

Wes rolled his eyes and decided to ignore him.

Cordelia bounded in three minutes later with a picture in her hand.

Everyone instantly crowded around to have a look.

"Oh, it's so cute!" Fred exclaimed. "You can see its fingers and toes!"

"It's not an 'it' anymore Fred." Cordelia smiled; an excited look in her eyes.

"Then what is it?" She asked, wrinkling her nose.

Wes caught on. "Oh, you found out the sex!"

She nodded and grinned. She was almost bouncing up and down on the spot.

"Well?" Gunn urged.

She felt Angel's hand on the bottom of her back. "It's a girl!"

Everyone hugged her and congratulated her.

"Oh my god, I can't believe it." She exclaimed. "I know there was a fifty/fifty chance of it being a girl but I guess I never expected it to be a girl!"

"Then you expected it to be a boy?" Gunn asked.

"No." She shook her head. "I guess I always thought of it as an 'it'."

Fred took the photograph to the notice board where she pinned it up. "There." She declared happily.

Cordelia turned to Angel and Wes and Gunn drifted away. "So?"

"So." He replied awkwardly and realised that his hand was still on her back.

She flung her arms around his neck. "I'm going to have a daughter!"

Angel's face creased into a smile. "Yeah you are."

She held onto him tightly, her feet only just touching the floor. "I'm going to have a daughter."

They had an uneventful week. Work quietened down and they found that they stayed in the hotel. There were no big beasties to fight and they all admitted that they liked spending time together. It was like they worked in a normal office doing normal things. By the weekend work picked up again and Cordelia found herself in the hotel alone again when the doors came flying open. A young black man entered at a run.

"Can I help you?" She asked, coming around the counter.

He headed towards her and grabbed her, pulling a knife to her throat.

She flinched in terror, her voice disappearing.

"Just be still and you won't get hurt." He told her, his voice a hoarse whisper. "You pregnant?"

"No, I just got really fat after Christmas." She replied sarcastically.

Suddenly she realised that antagonising a man who had a knife to her throat might not be such a good idea. "Yes."

He let free a series of curses. "Listen to me; you won't get hurt if you do what I say. You hear? I'm not about to go killing some pregnant white chick. Cops are going to come bursting in here any second and they're going to leave because they're going to see I'm about to kill you. Got it?"

She nodded slightly, aware of the knife against her throat.

As predicted two uniformed policemen came through the front doors.

"Get back!" The man holding her shouted. "I'll kill her! Don't think I won't!"

The policemen didn't move.

"I said move!" He shouted again, pressing the knife into her neck, making her whimper.

The policemen backed out.

"How can I get out of here?" He asked her, releasing her from his hold but keeping a hand clamped around her arm.

"The back doors!" She stammered, pointing. "Unless more police have got there."

She cursed herself for saying that. "But I doubt they will have."

"I'm not taking that risk." He told her. "You got a car?"

She shook her head. "I can't fit behind the wheel."

He suddenly grinned. "My sister got like that last year, I had to ferry her around places 'til she had my nephew."

"Why are the police after you?" She dared to ask.

"Just a misunderstanding." He told her.

An hour before him and his friends had stolen a car from outside Saks and took it for a joyride. They crashed and now he was running on foot. He was the same age as Cordelia.

"I'm sure." She humoured him.

Without warning two more black men burst into the hotel. "Hey man, we saw the cops outside, took a dash for it!"

They came across to slap his shoulder. "Hey, found yourself some white ass huh?"

"Hey!" The one holding her arm complained. "She's pregnant man, leave her alone. She'll make a good hostage. But we don't hurt her!"

One of the other two men shook his head. "Nah, I don't think so. We need to hurt her a bit to let the cops know she's in danger. That's the only way they're going to let us go. So she doesn't get killed."

She flinched as he grabbed her and took the knife off his friend. He pushed it roughly against her chest, above where her heart was. He dragged her to the doors and pushed one of them open with his foot. "Hey!"

Through the tears that had started to collect in her eyes she could see a mass of uniformed men and women who had gathered outside, all with guns pointed at them, or rather the man that was holding her.

"Get me and my friends a car here in half an hour or I kill her!" He shouted out and then dragged her in the hotel again. Once down the stairs he shoved her away from him.

"My friends will be back soon, they left a couple of hours ago." She told them.

"So, they won't be able to get in." The one with the short temper told her. "We could do anything to you before they get in here."

He leered at her until the one who'd first come in smacked his arm. "Give her a break man, she's pregnant."

"So? That's good; we can't get her that way then, can we?"

"Might I suggest you don't do that?" Cordelia butted in. "My friends and half of LAPD are outside and I can scream very loud. They can be in here and you can be dead before you even touch me!"

"She's right man." The other one told him.

"Sit down!" The angry one told her. "And shut your mouth!"

She sat on the couch. "What are you planning on doing now? You can't get out of here without being caught and the police won't get you a getaway car."

"I thought I told you to shut your mouth? If you must know Mom, the police will get me the car. Because I told them to. If not, then we use you as a human shield." He threatened, stepping closer to her. He punched her around the side of her face. "Now shut up!"

"Hey Delroy! Give her a break man!" The nicer one shouted and came to kneel next to her. "I'm sorry for him, he has a temper."

"I can see that." She complained angrily. "What's your name?"

"Eric." He replied quietly. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "I'd be better if my life hadn't turned into Law and Order."

He nodded.

"Who's he?" She asked, pointing to the other man.

"That's Leroy."

"Delroy and Leroy?" She raised an eyebrow. "Now I know you're kidding me."

He ginned and suddenly he reminded her of Gunn.

"Hey!" Leroy shouted to Delroy. "Our boy here's getting a little too close to our hostage!"

Delroy grabbed Eric by the shoulder and pulled him away from Cordelia. "Leave her!"

He did as he was told.

"Where the hell is our car?" Delroy muttered under his breath.

"It's only been five minutes, chill." Leroy told him.

"Don't tell me to chill!" He shouted angrily. "We've got half of this town's police force ready to arrest us; I do not want to chill. I'm upping our stakes! Get over here!" He ordered Cordelia.

She did as she was told slowly. "What are you going to do?"

He grabbed her and pulled a gun out of his pocket. From the looks of Leroy and Eric she could see they didn't know he had it.

"I don't think you want to shoot me!" She told him, her hands shaking.

"I'm not going to shoot you, yet. Now go towards the doors. You think about running and I kill you."

She walked towards the front doors, aware of Delroy's eyes on her. She put her hand on the door handle and she felt his breath on her neck.

"Go on." He urged.

As she opened the door she could feel his arm go around her waist, the one with the gun.

He pushed her out into the courtyard, making sure she was not going to run by keeping his arm tight around her.

"Where's my car?" He shouted at the sea of faces.

Cordelia scanned the crowd, seeing Wes and Gunn with Fred but she kept looking until she saw who she was looking for. He was stood separate from everyone else, looking for a way to get in the hotel. Her eyes locked with his and she began to cry.

"Shut up!" Delroy hissed into her ear and shoved the gun roughly into her stomach, instead of hovering in front of her chest as he had been doing.

Angel's eyes showed fear and helplessness.

"Where's my car?" He repeated.

The Police Chief stepped forwards his hands held up in the air. "It will be here in ten minutes. Just don't shoot the girl."

This seemed to anger Delroy more and he tightened his grip and swapped the gun to his other hand.

He raised it in the air and sent a shot ringing out into the night.

Cordelia jumped at the sound and slumped on Delroy's arm.

Angel moved forward but didn't dare come any closer.

"I want that car in five minutes!" Delroy demanded and then dragged Cordelia back into the hotel. "What the hell was that?"

He shoved her onto the floor roughly. "Waste of space."

Eric kept looking at her but said nothing.

They waited in silence, Delroy pacing and occasionally glancing at his watch. Leroy moved to the window so he could see what was happening.

"It's here." He announced after seven minutes. "Let's go."

Delroy grabbed her again and picked her up off the floor. He pressed the gun into her stomach once again and headed towards the door.

"Please don't hurt my baby." She mumbled.

He punched her in the face. "I told you to shut the hell up!" He tightened his grip on her again.

Eric and Leroy followed them, keeping behind ready to be shielded.

Delroy opened the door with one hand and then clamped it quickly around her throat tightly, almost cutting off her air supply.

They walked out once again into the night, this time they kept going down the path towards where the police had backed off and parked the car.

Cordelia stumbled and Delroy dug the gun further into her swollen stomach, making her cry out in pain. "Angel." She murmured.

They neared the car and Leroy jumped in before the police could target him. Eric stayed behind until they were next to it.

"Thanks." He told Cordelia. "Good luck with the baby."

She nodded although she was too scared to believe that he was being sincere.

"Stay in front of the car until we move away." Delroy ordered her, slipping into the front seat. He turned the key in the ignition.

As soon as she heard the engine flip over she fell flat to the floor, or rather as flat as she could get with the bump pressed against the floor, enabling the police to get a clear shot.

She heard the bullets rip through the glass of the car and puncture the metal of the bodywork but she daren't look. She felt pieces of glass land on her back but she still didn't lift her head off the floor.

She felt strong, familiar hands lifting her off the floor and she fells into his waiting arms, sobbing away all the fear from the last half hour.

The police insisted on calling for paramedics to take Cordelia to the hospital, even though she insisted she was fine.

Angel sat and held her hand while the paramedics took her blood pressure and took samples of blood.

To Angel, she felt cold and she looked very pale.

Her hands were shaking ever so slightly and by the time they reached the hospital the paramedics had put an oxygen mask on her.

He was shown to a waiting room where he nervously paced and bit his lip until he was shown to her fifteen minutes later.

The nurse kept up a running commentary as she took him through the hospital. "We transferred Cordelia to maternity as she started having contractions in the ER."

"Having contractions?" Angel asked, stopping walking and grabbing the nurse's arm. "But she's not to term!"

"Well, I don't know what's happening because I'm an ER nurse. One of the maternity nurses will be able to tell you more." She steered him down the corridor. "I'm sure she'll be fine. How many weeks is she?"

"Thirty five." He replied automatically. There was a calendar in the office and Wes had written how many weeks she would be on each Saturday.

"Oh, well that's not too bad." The nurse told him. "We get women come into the ER everyday that are less weeks than that and they leave with their babies the next day."

Angel didn't reply.

She showed him to her room and left.

"How are you?" He asked as he entered.

She was sat on the bed in a gown with a blanket tucked around her waist. "I'm having contractions Angel! I'm only thirty five weeks!"

She looked completely panicked. "It will be okay." He soothed and stroked her head.

"How can it be okay? I'm not ready yet! I thought I had at least another month."

"It'll be okay." He repeated, hugging her body to his. "I promise."

A doctor came in to see them and she smiled. "Hello, I'm Doctor Clarkson. I understand you're a bit anxious?"

"I'm having contractions!" Cordelia exclaimed, breathing hard through another pain.

"Actually, you're not." She told them. "What you're experiencing are Brackston Hicks Contractions. They're mild contractions that a lot of pregnant women experience during the last couple of months of their pregnancy. I can prescribe a mild painkiller for you and you can go home."

"So, I'm not having the baby?" She asked.

"No." The doctor smiled. "Now, before I let you go home we'll check to see if the baby is okay by doing a quick ultrasound. I understand you've been through a bit of an ordeal."

"You could say that." Angel told her.

"There shouldn't be anything wrong as you're experiencing the Brackston Hicks, but we'll check to be on the safe side." She smiled.

She lifted Cordelia's gown up, making sure that she was still covered and applied the gel.

Angel stared intently at the screen as the ultrasound was pressed on Cordelia's abdomen.

"And there is your baby." The doctor told them. "A nice strong heart beat and a good size."

"She's okay?" Cordelia asked, lifting herself up on her elbows so she could see.

Angel put an arm around her back to support her.

"She's absolutely fine." The doctor promised. "You're free to go home."