Bad news everyone, I just received word that Angel is not going to be renewed past this season.

If we want to save the show, we need to start sending e-mails and letters now. Anyone interested in starting an online petition, let me know.

They couldn't sleep. Didn't want to. Even though Cordelia was sure she could stop Doyle's impending death, she still did not want to miss out on one minute that she had to spend with him. She was lying half way on him, her head pillowed on his chest, her arm wrapped loosely around his waist. He was gently running his hand over her hair and shoulder. The blanket was draped across them to their waists, and the only light was from the bedside lamp.

"What do we do now?" Doyle asked softly. She knew he wasn't talking about them either. He was referring to the Lister demons and the Scourge.

"We start everything a day early. Tomorrow morning you'll go get the Listers and Angel will go talk to the captain of a ship called the Quintessa. I just have to remember to tell him to tie up the first mate or something. He's the one who tells the Scourge what we're up to. If we can keep them from finding out, then we stop them from using the Beacon."

"The Beacon?"
"It's a device that kills anything with human blood in it. It's specifically made for half demons, but it kills humans too."

"Is that what I die from?"

"It's what did kill you. It's not what is going to kill you, because you are not going to die."

Doyle changed the subject. "Don't we need to destroy this Beacon, then? So they can't use it on another group of people?"

"Yes. But we'll have the element of surprise. As soon as we get the Listers out of here safely, we can work on destroying the Beacon and stopping the Scourge."

"How can the thing be destroyed?"

"Just like anything else. We'll break it. Smash it, drop it. Something. It isn't just a magical device. It's human. Or at least man made." Cordelia said, raising up onto her forearms to look at his face. "I'm not going to lose you again, Doyle. I don't think I could handle it."

Doyle wrapped his arms around her and rolled onto his side so they were still face to face. "I'm sorry, Princess. About the visions, about everything."

"You can't be sorry for something you haven't done yet." She retorted, and he could see pain in her eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"I just feel like, I don't know, like you're convinced you're going to die and that nothing I'm doing, nothing I've done or said is going to change your mind. They wouldn't have let me come back here if you were doomed to die. Even the Oracles said that you died prematurely. You weren't supposed to die. You just cared about everyone else too much to let them make the sacrifice when you knew that you could."

"So who's gonna die this time, 'Delia? Angel? You? One of the Listers? You know what I'm trying to atone for since you've done this once already."

"You're supposed to save them, no one said you had to die for them!" Cordelia yelled, beginning to cry. "And why the hell do you think you do?! I can't lose you again, Doyle! I can't travel back in time to save you and then fail! If I lose you again, I don't think I'll be able to come back!"

Doyle cradled her in his arms, holding her tightly while she sobbed. "Shh. It's okay, darlin'. Everything is going to be okay."

Cordelia looked up at him, tears streaking down her face. "How can you tell me that when you're so hell bent on being the hero? Why do you want to die?"

"Is that what you think? That I want to die?" Doyle demanded. "I don't want to die. Jesus Christ, how could any man want to die when they've just found out the woman they're in love with loves them too? I just can't help thinking that maybe I'm meant to."

"We're not predestined to do anything. If there's one thing that I've learned in all my years, it's that. We make our own destinies. You made your decision by jumping onto the Beacon to save us all. Now you just have to make a different one. Choose us, Doyle. Pick Angel, and me, and everyone you're going to help save over death."

Doyle gently kissed away her tears, locking his sage green eyes onto her deep chocolate ones. "Okay. Just tell me what to do."

Cordelia was suddenly struck with an idea. "Buffy." She said suddenly.

"The Slayer from Sunnydale?"

"Yes. Why didn't I think of it before? She can help. Her and the Scooby Gang. Giles, Willow, hell, even Xander knows what he's doing around demons. We have to call them and get them all here."

"What are you thinking of doing, Princess?"

Cordelia smiled at him. "Exactly what the Scourge did to us last time. Ambushing them."

The next morning, Cordelia called Buffy. The Slayer answered her phone on the fourth ring, sounding very sleepy. "Hullo?"

"Buffy, this is Cordelia. Listen, I know we don't like one another very much, but I need your help."

"Help? With what?" Buffy asked, suddenly wide-awake.

"I need you to bring the Scoobies to LA. There's a big thing going down with a group of militant demons called the Scourge. We need some help to stage an attack on them before something terrible happens."

"What's going to happen?"

"Someone I care about very deeply could die. Buffy, this isn't about me. This is about saving the world. If we don't stop them now, there's no telling how many people they'll kill."

Buffy sighed. "Okay, I'll help. When do you need us there?"

"As quick as humanly possible. And bring everyone. Willow, Xander, Anya, Oz, Giles, your new boy, whoever you have to bring. We can use all the help we can get."

"Okay. We'll be there by noon."

"Thank you, Buffy. This means a lot to me."

Cordelia hadn't told Angel about the early morning phone call she had made. When she and Doyle arrived at the office the next morning, Angel was in his apartment, brooding. She, for the first time, interrupted his brooding session, leaving Doyle to gather all their weapons.

"I need you to do something with me and Doyle."

"What?" Angel asked in an irritated tone.

"I need you to come with us to see a gang of vampire hunters. Their leader is named Charles Gunn. You'll meet him later, but we need him now, he can help. Call him Gunn and make sure that you're careful."

"What are you planning, Cordelia?"

"To get to the Scourge before they get to us. It's the only way we can be sure that we stop them for good. Even if we keep them from the Listers, we could come up against them again later, and then I might lose him anyway. Now get off your lazy ass and come with us."

Cordelia gave Angel the address and let him take the tunnels while she and Doyle took the above ground route in Angel's car. They arrived first, as she'd known they would. She grabbed a crossbow just in case they weren't all too excited to see her, and led Doyle inside. They had barely gotten in the door before they were surrounded by the vampire hunters. Cordelia spotted many people she knew and could call by name, others that had died before she'd gotten a chance to know them.

"We're here to see Gunn." She said, looking at one man that she did know.

"Is he expecting you?"

"Does he even know you?"

"No on both accounts." Cordelia said tiredly, "But trust me, he'll want to see us. We're here about a group of demons."

A man she recognized to have the name of Will walked back into the guts of the building. A few moments later Gunn strode out. "What's this about a group of demons?" he asked, and Cordelia sighed in relief. He believed her.

"It's a group called the Scourge. They're a group of militant pure bred demons who are building a machine called the Beacon to kill all half breeds."

"Kill all half demons? That doesn't sound so bad." Gunn said nonchalantly. "Why should I care if they want to kill themselves off?"

"Because the machine kills humans too. It's got this beam on it, sort of like a laser and when it's activated; it burns everything with any human blood to the point of death. Melts them away. And you've encountered benign demons before, I'm sure."

"They've been few and far between." Gunn admitted grudgingly. "How do you know about us anyway?"

"We're private Investigators." Doyle said, turning a lie into a partial truth. "We've heard of you through some contacts. They said you're the person to go to when there're demons involved."

"How do you know about the Scourge?"

Cordelia sighed. "Ever hear of the Powers that Be?"

Gunn nodded. "Sort of like God, right?"

"Sorta. Anyway, they send visions to Doyle. He's a messenger for them. They told him about the Scourge."

"So you two are demonic private investigators. Nice."

"Actually," Angel said, walking in the door, without an invitation, since the building was not where they lived, "They work for me."

Gunn looked at Angel condescendingly. "And who are you?"

"Angel. You must be Gunn. Nice to meet you. Enough with the small talk, you know what's going on, are you going to help or not?"

Gunn shrugged. "Why not? Demons are right up our alley. When do you want us and where?"

Cordelia handed him a business card. "Here at twelve thirty. Bring your group. We need all the help we can get. We'll fill you in more there."

Angel watched Cordelia and Doyle walk away before he left. He'd noticed her small hand folded into his larger one. And he couldn't help but think that his friend had just made a terrible mistake. He'd known that something was about to begin between him and Cordelia, and had tried to egg it on, they had both deserved a little happiness, but falling for the older, more mature version of Cordelia was something he wasn't sure should have been done. They didn't seem very different, but he knew they were. He had a bad feeling that Doyle was in for a rude awakening when their Cordelia returned.

Angel arrived back at the office at noon, after having gone to talk to the captain of the ship that Cordelia had told him to talk to. He'd gotten everything arranged, and then taken the underground tunnel system back to the office. When he walked in, he was surprised beyond belief to see Gunn's crew. As well as the Scooby gang sitting in the lobby with Cordelia taking charge of everything, telling them exactly what needed to be done and how they were going to do it.

That's when he saw it. He saw the woman that she had become. The woman his Cordelia would become. And he knew why Doyle had fallen in love with her. For the first time, he saw what she would do to help someone she loved. He saw her potential. And suddenly, he knew that of all the people that he had been around in Sunnydale, she had come the farthest. Made the most out of what she had had to start with. She was determined and stubborn, and set on what she wanted, and she was going to get it. He suddenly had no doubt that she was going to be able to save Doyle. Because she loved him as much as he loved her.

Cordelia's voice broke through Angel's haze slowly. "Hey, Angel, gonna join the group?" she asked in an irritated tone, gesturing to an empty seat. He took it wordlessly, and looked around. It almost seemed like Sunnydale right before he left, with the Scooby gang there. The only person missing was Wesley.

Buffy leaned over to talk to Angel. "Something wrong?" she asked, and he shook his head, Buffy continued. "She's really grown up, hasn't she? I mean, she doesn't even look like Cordelia anymore. She's so much more mature."

Angel almost smiled. Almost. "You have no idea, Buffy. This past twenty four hours I have seen a side of Cordelia that I did not know existed."

"So I take it she's over Xander?"

"She'd better be." Anya huffed from Buffy's other side. "If she isn't, I'm going to make a wish of my own."

Buffy cast a withering glance at the former demon. "I wouldn't recommend that. Xander was in love with her for a long time. Even though they've been broken up a while, I doubt he would like you killing her. Or," she added menacingly, "torture her with any wish that you could think up."

"I don't know," Anya said thoughtfully. "I could always make one like she did. I could always wish her into a different future."

Cordelia suddenly stopped talking and focused on Anya. "I'm quite over your boyfriend, thanks for asking. Would it be to much trouble to concentrate on anything but wishing I were dead for five seconds?"

"I don't wish you were dead." Anya said sweetly. "I was merely considering wishing that you had never met Xander or Buffy or Willow. Then I wouldn't have to worry about you trying to steal Xander away from me now that he's become all buff and manly."

Cordelia nearly snorted. "Whatever, now focus on the task at hand." She ordered, and even Anya was quiet. Giles spoke up for the first time.

"Cordelia, am I correct in assuming that our role in this whole thing is to research ways in which the Scourge can be defeated and the assist with the defeating of the Scourge?"

Cordelia nodded. "Basically. Giles, there're a lot of these guys, and they're strong. You know, better than most people that, excepting matters of life and death, I would not call anyone in Sunnydale. This is important, probably the most important thing I've ever done, aside from dumping Xander and moving to LA. Our future depends on this one event."

Anya was looking suspicious. "Something's going on." She announced, "She's not telling us something."

"Anya," Xander said gently, knowing that no one else would get his girlfriend to back down, "I think she'd told us everything we need to know. There's a big bad; it's our job to stop it. So, please stop trying to pick a fight with Cordy and let's get on with the slayage. We have to get home and get back to our lives."

Cordelia had never thought that she would hear something mature come out of the Mouth of Xander Harris. She was still musing on it hours later as they combed through books. She had gathered every weapon Angel owned and packed them into easily accessible bags. She was finding out, based on research, that the Scourge's only power, so to say, was it's extreme evil.

"Well," Willow said, speaking to Cordelia for the first time, "It would seem that these demons are no different than the ones that we have been slaying for years now. Their only defense and scare tactic is that they've been around the longest."

"It seems so." Cordelia said, never taking her eyes off the book in front of her. Willow noticed that her hand was being firmly held by, and firmly holding the hand of the strange Irish half demon that she had heard about from Oz.

"Is there something you aren't telling us, Cordy?" Willow asked.

"No, for the thousandth time, I am not hiding anything from you. I'm just a little preoccupied with saving the world and – ahh!" Cordelia screamed as she was hit with a vision. Doyle was also swept away by it, though he bore the pain in silence.

Snippets of color. Blurs that were people. Running, fighting, slaying. Big demons, roaring obscenities at her friends, swinging battle axes and huge swords. Willow, saying some sort of spell to keep them outside the office, keep them from bursting in and killing them all. Angel and Buffy were fighting viciously, the only two strong enough to do any damage without any weapons to assist them. They saw themselves dying, heard screams as the field of protection broke and the demons charged within. And right before she came out of the vision, Cordelia felt a strong pull of desperation and grief.

"No!" Cordelia yelled when she could speak again. "They're coming, any minute now. Get the weapons and get ready. Now!"

Buffy looked at Angel as she walked to the bags of weapons in the other room and carried two in. "Since when does she get visions?"

"Does it matter?" Angel answered her with a question, handing Xander an ax. He'd barely gotten the weapons passed out and everyone had just gotten ready when the Scourge burst in the front door. Like it or not, prepared or not, they were going to fight. The only thing that made Angel think they stood a chance in hell of all making it out alive was the determination on the faces of the two most incredible women that he had ever met. Buffy and Cordelia.