Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.

Author's note: Here's a nice long update. lol. Please review!

Thanks to, Tiffnya, Kelley: TheSelfToastablePopTart, ReganX, Little Illy, MysticWolf1, Ka-Mia2286, and nookyfiction, for reviewing,

Little Illy: About the whispering and barging thing. I was trying to make some sort of ironic contrast or something. lol. Like, Cordy was gonna barge through anyway, but she stopped to whisper "hi", I guess it didn't work. lol.

Connor broke away from Cordelia's kiss. "Why?" he asked. "Why did you ... ?"

She touched his face tenderly. "Because I don't think it matters anymore."

Connor opened his eyes slowly, memories of the night before filling his head in no particular order. He rolled over, slightly surprised to find he wasn't alone. Smiling at Cordelia's gentle rhythmic breathing, he reached out and softly stroked her back.

She moved away from him.

Connor pulled his hand back and sat up, confused and shocked. He hadn't forced her into anything. She had been the one in control and they both knew it.

"Why?" he muttered, as he pulled on a pair of jeans, hurt by just one movement of rejection.

"So Angel knows about our relationship," Wesley said dismissively. "Big deal."

Lilah's eyes flashed open. She climbed on top of him with a smile. "A dollar," she said seductively, silky red material brushing against Wesley's chest. "You owe me a dollar."

Wesley's eyes crinkled with confusion.

"You called this a relationship," Lilah continued, kissing his forehead. "You lost the bet."

A noise behind her snapped Lilah back to reality, but she didn't turn around. Instead she continued staring out the window, watching fire rain down on the city, just like it had done the night before. The bright sunlight of the clear day did nothing to stop the image of destruction she continued to watch.

"Why are you still here?"

"Intel confirms that it was the creature which triggered the pyrotechnics last night," Gavin said from behind her, slightly curious what she was looking at, as he could see nothing of interest. "They're just not sure why."

Lilah ignored him. "The senior partners want us to try and cut a deal with it," she said turning around, unaware of why she felt the need to explain anything to Gavin. "It wants the same things we do. The partners feel it might speed things along."

"What if it's not interested?"

"I'll change its mind."

Gavin paused for a moment as Lilah turned back to the window.

"Sign it first," Lilah smiled, as Wesley handed her a dollar. "As proof."

"Proof of what?" he asked.

"Of now," she said softly, kissing him. "Of this."

"What about your plan for Angel?" Gavin continued, sensing a chance to acquire information from the unusually unfocused lawyer. "Don't tell me you're giving up on it."

"Don't tell me you care," she quipped back, not as unfocused as Gavin had thought. It took more than a man, especially a man like Wesley Wyndham Price, to put her off her work. However, the truth was, her plan for Liam was going to have to wait. The Beast was much more important.

"I have a fun game," Cordy told Charlie, her eyes sparkling at the idea.

"Princesses?" he lisped shyly, remembering that to be a game she'd mentioned before.

Cordy sighed angrily. "I told you," she said. "Princesses isn't something you play, it's something you are. Like me."

"What game then?" he asked, secretly wondering where the others were. Not that he didn't want to spend time with Cordelia, but it was unusually quiet.

She smiled mischievously. "Flying."

Wesley paused outside Fred's bedroom, Gunn just behind him. The pair's injuries from the Beast weren't as bad as had been expected, so with the help of a few bandages, they were soon patched up.

"Should have known Lorne couldn't cope," Wes joked, seeing four children curled up with Fred, fast asleep.

Gunn looked into the room too, and felt an unusual feeling in his stomach. He wasn't ready to see Fred like that yet. "I'm just gonna ..."

Wes nodded, fully understanding. "Find Lorne," he suggested. "And see if Angel's back yet."

Gunn disappeared, and Wesley went quietly into Fred's room.

Liam looked up at him as he entered, "Shhhhh," he whispered, not asleep as Wesley had thought.

The ex watcher smiled at the little boy, and remained quiet as he had been told.

"She is sad because her boyfriend does not love her," Krev said stiffly, making an effort to talk to these 'cows,' or 'humans' as Angel had insisted. He had already been comforted by the lack of maggot piles, and people calling him crazy, so the little demon was determined to make an attempt at friendship.

"Oh," Wes said silently, torn between feeling jealousy that Fred was pining for Gunn, or sympathy and understanding for her pain.

"Will you be her new boyfriend?" Little Fred asked sleepily. "You could buy her tacos."

"Or play with weapons," Little Wesley suggested, realising no one else was keeping up the pretence of being asleep.

"I could," Wes agreed with a smile.

"Father doesn't like me playing with weapons," Little Wes continued. "But I bet he'd let you, coz you're really really big!"

Liam grinned. "And Fred is really really big," he said, continuing for Wes. "Not you though," he explained to the little Fred next to him. "You could play weapons together."

"And listen to music," Krev spoke up happily.

"And then eat tacos!" Mini Fred cried, launching herself on to Wesley in her excitement.

He caught the little girl easily and smiled. "You've got this all planned out, haven't you?"

Four faces nodded back at him.

A movement from the bed made them fall silent. "Do I get a say in this?" Fred asked, rubbing her eyes.

"No." Liam told her.

"Of course," Wes said seriously, putting Little Fred down.

The physicist thought for a while, smiling inwardly at all their eager faces. "Well," she said slowly. "If the world's gonna end, then we'd better do it soon."

"Connor," Lilah smiled. "As if the last few hours haven't brought enough surprises."

Connor didn't smile back. He stood in the doorway, completely still.

Cordelia had rejected him, and he knew why. It was obvious. The Beast had risen in the same place as he was born. He was connected to it, and Cordelia knew. No wonder she didn't want him.

"I have questions."

"Sneaking into the building," Lilah observed. "You really are like your old man, aren't you?"

"Let's find out," he said dryly, almost a challenge. "I want to know why I'm here."

"Come on," Cordy cried, her hand in Charlie's, as she pulled him up stairs after stairs. "We have to go really high if we wanna fly."

"I don't wanna ... "

Cordy ignored him. This was her favourite game ever. "Here we go," she said happily, as she reached an open window.

"I don't ... " Charlie said again.

"But its fun," Cordy assured him, snatching his beloved 'Blankie' from him, and knotting it around his shoulders. "This'll be your para ... para-shoo ... thing to stop you dying," she said cheerfully, the word 'Dying' not scaring her in the slightest.

"Aren't you doing it?" Charlie asked nervously, in awe of the bossy girl.

"Nuh-uh," she replied, smoothing down her dress. "I might ruin my clothes."

He nodded.

"All you gotta do is stand up there," she pointed to the window ledge. "And jump. Your para-thing will make you fly."

Charlie did as she said. He didn't want to seem like a Scaredy-Cat in front of her. And she was probably right about flying; she was usually right about other things.

The five year old brunette giggled to herself. Charlie was just too easy to tease. No one else she'd ever tried 'Flying' with, had ever gone this far.

"Charlie," she laughed, about to explain that the game was just to make someone believe something silly.

But he'd gone.

Charlie had jumped.

Cordelia screamed and burst into tears. It was only a game.

Angel sat outside the Hyperion lost in his thoughts. It was a sunny day, but he was shaded by plants.

Connor and Cordelia.

He'd seen it with his own eyes, and it sickened him.

A faint scream caught his ears, and he stood up just in time to see a dark blur fall through the sky. Angel ran out, giving no thought to the sun, and caught the little boy effortlessly, batting away the fire as he dived into the shade.

Charlie looked up at him with tear stained eyes. "That was fun," he lisped, making sure to remember to tell Alonna when he got home.

"That demon you're seeking," Connor explained. "I think I'm connected to it."

Lilah nodded, one foot tapping against the desk she sat on. "Gavin," she said, "Why don't you get our young friend a copy of ... "

The lights went out.

" ... Your report." Lilah finished, undisturbed, as the building began to shake violently.

Please review!

And I updated "Scented Dust and Mislaid Souls," (The one with Maya)