Chapter One

"Mommy?" Gunn questioned as he looked back and forth between Cordelia and the young girl. The child definitely looked like a younger form of Cordelia as they both had the same shade of brown hair. He shrugged, deciding that if there was a relationship, he could buy it. "I'm gonna need an explanation," he added as he looked over at Cordelia.

The young woman stood there in shock, glancing down at the younger girl still clutching her knees. Half of her was embarrassed that their reunion was being held like this, but the other half was filled with sadness at how much she had missed.

"Cordy?" Gunn asked a moment later. "There is an explanation, right?"

"Explanation for what?" Wesley Wyndam-Pryce asked as he entered the lobby from his desk. Angel followed right behind him. Wesley looked from the strange redhead, to Gunn, to Cordelia, and finally to the young girl at Cordelia's knees. She had the same long hair he remembered seeing in photographs of Cordelia when she was around that age. "Oh dear God," Wesley muttered.

"Yes, it's all very shocking," the redhead interrupted, "but I'm late for a meeting, so if you don't mind I'm going to take off."

"What about your daughter?" Angel asked curiously as the woman headed for the door.

"She's not mine," the woman replied as she opened the door. Without turning around, she added, "She wanted to find her actual mother." With that, the woman was out of the hotel.

"Which brings us back to what the hell!" Gunn explained as he turned back to Cordelia. "You never mentioned any of this."

Finally Cordelia spoke. She was still a little confused and in shock at the circumstances around her, but she had grasped that it was really happening. This was not some weird universe where her nightmares were back alive. If that were true, she would probably be suffering more painful visions. "Katie, do you want to draw or something?" she asked as she looked the young girl in the eye.

Katie thought about it for a minute. She really wanted to be around her mother, but she was sensing that was not possible. Besides, she wanted to be alone with Cordelia for a few minutes. She wanted to know the truth about herself, the things her adoptive mother could not tell her. She shrugged as she took Cordelia's hand and began walking behind the desk. "Ok," she agreed softly.

Cordelia smiled as she led her daughter back behind the desk. She quickly scanned the top of the desk for scrap paper. Upon finding none, she grabbed some from the printer. "There's paper. Pens and pencils are over to the left." She pulled out the fortune cookies leftover from her half-eaten Chinese lunch. "Cookie?" she offered.

Again, Katie shrugged. "Ok," she said softly. She usually was not so shy, but she was surrounded by older people she did not know. She had no memory of meeting any of them. With the exception of Cordelia, she had never heard any of them. She took a few cookies, grabbed some pens, and began drawing.

"Cordelia," Gunn repeated her name. "We're waiting."

Angel immediately turned and glared at Gunn. "Give her time," he commanded sternly as he walked over to Cordelia. He could not deny the fact that his feelings for the woman were changing each minute. She was obviously in emotional pain, and he wanted to be there for her. "Cordy?" he asked.

"Yes?" Cordelia asked as she sat down on the round couch. Her head was held in her hands, propped up in her lap. She let out a large sigh as before picking her head up. "What do you want to say?" she asked. "That I'm this horrible person? I'm this large slut for allowing this to happen and a cruel mother for giving her up at birth?"

"No," Angel stated honestly as he sat down next to Cordelia. He wrapped a comforting arm around her thin shoulders. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

Katie looked up from her drawing at Cordelia. "Mommy, is that your boyfriend?" she asked innocently.

Cordelia glanced back at Katie as she shook her head slightly. "He's a very close friend," she stated. "Katie, this is Angel." She then turned to Angel. "Angel, that's my daughter Katie."

"Hi," Katie said innocently as she went back to her drawing. She picked her head up again. "Who are those men? Are they your boyfriends?"

Cordelia shook her head again. "They're just friends," she answered. "Wesley Wyndam-Pryce and Charles Gunn," she added. As she said their names, Wesley and Gunn both waved slightly at the young girl. "I don't have a boyfriend."

"Why not?" Katie asked curiously. "All grown-ups have boyfriends. That's what my nanny says. She has a boyfriend."

Cordelia sighed. "That's a talk we'll have at a much later date," she said with a sigh. She turned back to Wesley, Gunn, and Angel. "I suppose you want answers as well," she added.

"That would be nice," Angel said. "But only if you're ready to talk about it."

"I think I am," Cordelia said. "It was freshman year…"