Disclaimer: I own nothing and no one.

Author's note: Thanks to: Moonjava, angel-cordy, nookyfiction, Digital-Dragon-Master, ReganX, Aqua-Hime, Marcus Lazarus, Little Illy, LouisaB, NotInLove, AllUNeedIsFaith, Sired-by Spike, and Tess LaCalme.

Sorry I haven't updated in AGES AND AGES. I'm gonna try and make my updates more frequent from now on.

Oh, and check out some stories by AllUNeedIsFaith, if you have the time. She writes good stories, but doesn't have many reviews to show for them.

Now, onwards with the story:

To anyone who knew about the Beast's master, it would be pretty obvious why instructions were given to leave mini Cordelia alone. Clone or no clone, if harm came to the child, harm would come to the adult, and Jasmine knew what that meant for her survival. But for those who knew little, Cordelia's "defeat" of the Beast was something spectacular, at least to the children with her.

"Wow," Fred exclaimed breathlessly, still trembling from her near death experience. "You saved me," she stuttered, shaking too much for her words to come out properly.

She'd always told herself that if she was in one of those horror films which she wasn't allowed to watch, then she wouldn't be scared. She wouldn't let it beat her. She'd be a superhero ... with the power to not let them take her.

... But one almost did.

She was nearly killed, she was clever enough to realise that. But maybe she wasn't clever enough to live in a world filled with walking nightmares, a world where death is all there is. Maybe she was just a frightened little girl who should just accept that she'd never be anything great, and never be a superhero.

Fred looked down at the floor, she'd never thought like that before, and she was terrified that it could be true. "Can we just go, please?" she whispered.

Krev nodded silently, completely in awe of Cordelia, he now understood what Charlie meant when he praised the confident brunette. If only the rest of the Deathwok clan could see her, if they could see who Krev had become friends with, surely they'd welcome him back to the clan? He knew a hero.

"Let's go," Cordy sighed impatiently, desperate to boast about her victory, and hurt that the other two hadn't been showering her with praise. She had saved their lives after all.

"There's two exits I know of," Angel said, supplying all the information he'd stored from studying plans of the building, and from breaking into it. "Third floor and lobby."

"They'll be closed off," Connor reminded him, "Lilah said ... "

"What about the Beast?" Gunn interrupted, "Are we just gonna ... ?"

"We got what we came for," Angel said dismissively, referring to Connor. "Now, we go."

"But Junior here just said that the exits are closed off," Gunn continued. "So unless you got some bright idea hidden up your sleeve, we ain't goin' nowhere."

"The White Room," Angel said suddenly, as the idea literally popped into his head. "A gateway," he explained briefly for Gunn's benefit. "There's a little girl there ... or something old and evil that likes to pretend it's a little girl."

Blank faces stared back at him.

"She might be able to help us."

Connor looked around himself at the crumbling building, bodies scattered carelessly throughout the halls and screams of already dead victims echoing through the corridor, "Let's go."

Gunn nodded. "Got my vote."

Liam sat happily in Fred's used bath water, fully clothed, a pencil in his hand. "Do you think Cordy and Fred and Krev should be back yet?" he asked thoughtfully, scribbling on his piece of paper, careful not to get it wet.

Fred nodded. She'd been thinking the same thing. "Maybe I should go and see," she wondered aloud, not even going to ask why Liam seemed to enjoy sitting in soaking wet clothes.

"No, don't," Wes spoke up bravely, stepping away in case she brought her hand to him for daring to undermine an adult. "Father says you shall benefit from being inquisitive, but get a thrashing for being nosy."

Fred paused to consider what he had told her, and felt her heart go out to the older Wesley in a way it never had for Gunn. He'd clearly suffered through his childhood, and yet still managed to turn into a decent man. Sure, he'd kidnapped Connor, but did that mean he cared any less? Deep down, Fred had never doubted him. He'd only been doing what he thought was right at the time. He was a good man. Her Wesley.

"I can be inkisitif," Charlie offered with his thumb in his mouth, pronouncing the new word badly. He didn't know what it meant, but it was something about finding out why the other three were staying behind a closed door for so long. "I can."

At Fred's nod, he wandered down the corridor slowly and carefully opened the door. "Cordy?" he called, hoping she wouldn't be mad because he disturbed her.

No answer.

Charlie pushed the door open further, and peered round to find an empty room, the curtains billowing like in every film he'd seen.

"They're gone!" he screamed, causing footsteps to race up behind him. "Cordy's gone!"

There you go: a very short filler chapter.

I'd still appreciate reviews though, and I promise the next update will be twice as long, and include adult Cordelia and Lorne, who we haven't seen in a while, and more Lilah ... as well as the kids of course.

TBC: Mini Cordelia finds out that even though she saved Fred and Krev, she's still in a lot of trouble.