A/N: Sorry the update took so long. But a BIG thanks to those who reviewed! Keep it up. :)
Sarai and Ryan were in what seemed to be a warehouse looking building with offices inside. Sarai opened the office door that was in front of them, and they went inside. A younger Cordelia greeted them when they walked in. "Hi, welcome to Angel Investigations, we help the helpless, are you guys helpless? And what will be you method of payment?" she said to them.
"Excuse me?" a confused Sarai questioned.
"Did you come here because you need to hire us for something? Is there a monster after you? And how much are you willing to pay? I mean, sure Angel will probably say that since you two are young, we need to help you for the sake of helping, but you know, he still doesn't grasp the concept of a business," Cordelia explained.
Ryan and Sarai were very surprised, this was not the Cordelia they were used to. "Okay, so let me get this straight; you'd rather make money then save lives?" Sarai asked.
"Now, now, I didn't say that. Saving lives in important, but money is also important in my life, for say, rent, clothes and food. Working for free all the time will not cover those expenses. So, do you have money or not?"
"I don't know what made you change, but I'm sorry it happened," Sarai muttered.
"What?" Cordelia asked, not being able to hear her the first time.
"Um...nothing, can you just get Angel for us, please?"
"Sure," Cordelia said before heading down to his apartment.
"Wow," Ryan commented after she left.
"I know! I mean, how unfair is this? In our time, she's all martyr-like-goody-goody, and I have to put up with that, but yet, here she is now, actually cool and someone I can like seriously relate too and get along with, and of course knows the value of having money, but I'm not here! If she insists on being all wannabe mom, the least she could do is revert to this form!"
"What, you mean moderately selfish and greedy?"
"DUH! I mean, its like overtime she's become one of those TV characters thats ultra cool, but gets completely diminished over time, during a whole 'person growth arc'. Sometimes, SCREW PERSONAL GROWTH!"
"And yet, I am not surprised you've said any of this," Ryan mused out loud.
Sarai shrugged as she looked around the office, "hey, I only speak the truth...except for when I'm lying of course. By the lack of decoration, I am guessing dad did it, or didn't do it, himself. It just proves my theory."
"Do I want to know what the theory is?"
"You already know it."
"Ah," Ryan nodded, "that theory."
"Yup, that one. And I know it's true."
"Yes, of course, I am sure that before you were born Angel was virtually helpless with an empty life, and totally pathetic, until you livened him up...figuratively speaking."
"It's sad to think, but I know its true."
"It's nice that you've mastered modesty the way you have."
"Yeah, well, you know me, I master."
Cordelia returned to the office with Angel not far behind her. "Okay, boss, here they are, real clients," she announced.
"Not exactly," Sarai corrected.
"Damn," Cordelia whispered.
Angel rolled his eyes, "Cordelia, why don't you work on the filing system while I talk to these people?" he suggested. Cordelia did just that and Angel led the teens into his office. "I'm sorry about her...she's...just...Cordelia. So is there something I can help you two with?"
Sarai shrugged, "I don't know. Let's find out, shall we? I think we shall. So here's the dealio...dadio."
"What?" Angel questioned, confused by Sarai.
'Hehe, even in the past, I still have my powers of daddy confusion,' she thought. "Okay, I'm Sarai, and see, we keep on getting sucked into past years, and well, we can't get back to our time."
Angel nodded, "I see, so this is a past year?"
"Yeah. Oh yeah, and there is something about what I am in the future that I think you should know," Sarai answered, as Angel went to sit in his chair. "I'm your daughter." Angel missed he chair and fell on the floor. Sarai laughed.
"Can you repeat that?"
"I am your daughter. Which would make you my father."
"Are you okay, sir?" Ryan asked.
"I...I think so," Angel answered as he stood back up.
"Oh come on, you're Angel, Mr. SoulVamp, saving the world and all and before that you were Mr. CompleteEvilVamp, this really shouldn't be a shock to someone who has seen and done as much as you have."
Angel stared blankly at her for a minute before responding. "B-but you can't be. I mean, vampires can't have kids, and even if...I can't have sex."
"Okay, first of all, never say the 'S' word again because your old and daddy and can't ever say it, second, yeah, you kind of can have one...you just haven't discovered that yet...obviously, and third, never say the 'S' word!"
"And who are you?" Angel pointed at Ryan.
"I'm Sarai's...friend, Ryan" he answered.
"Oh."
Angel stood there shock and confused, it was apparent on his face. Sarai did not like that. "Are you alright?" she asked.
"I-I think...I'm...just...surprised," he stuttered.
"You look like your gonna hurl," she pointed out. "You need to lay down."
"No, I'll be alright."
Sarai narrowed her eyes, she did not like it when people refused her medical advice. "Look, bucko, I've seen every episode of ER, at least three times, and Willow's sent me tapes of Doogie Howser, I know when people are having stomach troubles and are about to spew all over the place. You, father, are about too, now, you lie down and get rest, and if you behave well, I'll bring you tea," She insisted sternly.
"But I-"
"GO!" she yelled. Dumbfounded as to why he was listening to a teenager, who was supposedly his daughter, and deeply scary when she's giving orders, he turned and headed down to his place. Sarai smiled and followed him. Ryan went to talk to Cordelia.
As Sarai snooped around Angel's place during her tea making process, Ryan filled Cordelia in on all the details. "So he knocks up a girl in the future? I'm really not surprised," Cordelia huffed. "So did he and Buffy do the whole melodrama thing once they found out a bun was in her oven?"
Ryan's eye's widened, "NO! Cordelia, please, please, for the sake of all of us, never say that again! Sarai will FREAK if she hears you call the B name her mother, because, she is not, only Sarai would point that out with more anger and cursing."
"Really? And what does she have against Buffy?"
Ryan shook his head, "I wouldn't even know where to explain. Just, don't mention the name. Please?"
"Sure. Besides, it's not like I do often. I have a life of my own, and not everything in this world revolves around little miss likes-to-stake," Cordelia replied.
'Damn, teenage Cordy and Sarai really are a lot alike,' he thought.
Meanwhile, downstairs, after causing a minor spill and breaking one mug, the tea was finally made. Sarai added some lemon, and a pinch of sugar to it, and brought it to her father. "Drink it slowly so it won't burn your esophagus, and of course, so I won't have to make you another one so quickly."
Angel took the tea with caution, for some reason, he couldn't help but trust her cooking abilities, even if it was only tea, less than he trusted Cordy's. When he sipped it, he was shocked to discover it tasted pretty good. "WOW," he said.
"Don't be so surprised it's good, or I'll take the tea away."
"Sorry," he apologized as he drank the tea.
"I guess I can let it slide. Now, drink up when you look healthier, you can get up." As Angel rested, Sarai hung around the living room and watched TV. She heard someone coming down the stairs, assuming it was Cordy or Ryan, she didn't bother getting up...or looking away from the TV. However, when it sounded like they tripped down the last two steps, she looked to see what was going on. The person wasn't Ryan or Cordelia, it was Wesley. It was Wesley wearing tight black jeans, a t-shirt, and a leather jacket. "What is with the outfit? Is it Halloween or something?"
"I'm sorry, what?" Wesley questioned as he got off the floor and adjusted his glasses. For some reason, he seemed even more British too her than in her time.
"The outfit, why are you wearing it?"
He didn't understand why she was asking that, but he answered anyway. "I am what you would call a rogue demon hunter, a sometimes associate of the one Angel whom you are visiting I assume? I need to speak with him myself." It was after he finished talking, when he realized it was now Sarai who was on the floor, only she was laughing hysterically, and had been doing so since 'rogue demon hunter' exited his mouth. Hearing the noise, Angel came out of his room.
"What happened? What's with her?" he asked, pointing to Sarai, who was still in hysterics.
"Wesley...rogue," she managed to say between laughter, but she was unable to finish. She was so loud, Ryan and Cordelia heard her and came down.
"What's going on?" Cordelia asked. Ryan took a look at Wesley, and the answer was clear to him.
"Let it go, honey, everyone goes through a bad fashion phase."
"It's...not...only...cloths," Sarai giggled. It was when she had to go to the bathroom, when she picked herself off the floor, stood up and controlled herself a bit, "toilet?" she asked. Angel pointed to the bathroom. Two minutes later, she came back to join everyone. Ryan and Cordy were filling Wesley in and Angel...was in big trouble. "I didn't tell you to get out of bed yet!" she yelled at him.
"But I had to see what was going on."
"That's no excuse. I told you that you were sick. What if you were walking around, felt the need to throw up, did it right on the floor? and in the process lost your balance, fell on the floor, knocked something off a table that fell on top of your head and you got knocked out? Huh? Then what? You could've been in a coma...or got brain damage, or worse, needed to go to a doctor!"
Angel furrowed his brow, something he was very good at doing, "ah...I don't think that would happen. Plus, if I did go into a coma, or have brain damage, I think I'd need to go to a doctor for that."
"Not really, I mean, personally, I don't understand why people can't be in coma's in their own homes. I mean, they're asleep, so why do they need to be in a hospital? I often wondered that when Co-...never mind," she said, cutting herself off from revealing Cordelia's year-long nap, because she didn't want to have to get into that big discussion.
"I thought you liked doctors? Didn't you say that you watch them on TV?" Angel asked.
"I like TV doctors, especially Noah Wyle looking TV doctors. That's TV so its okay. But really doctors are different. They're evil, and now you can try and convince me otherwise, but it won't work."
"She's right, it won't," Ryan added, well aware that his girlfriend was not a fan of doctors, despite the fact that Ryan himself wanted to be a doctor, and that she herself liked to take care of people when they were sick, but he had decided she liked that because she got to tell people what to do and have a good reason for making them listen.
"So you two haven't found out why you keep going back in time?" Angel asked.
"No, we've tried to figure it out in the other years, but we couldn't. We think it has something to do with a spell she used," Ryan answered.
"Excuse me, but he's sick. He needs to go back to bed," Sarai stated.
"Fine," Angel shrugged, "I had an idea of how to help you two, but if I'm sick I guess I can't help."
"What do you know, he's all better! It's a miracle!" Sarai squealed.
"I think the best bet would be too speak with The Oracles," Angel stated.
"The What-Acles?" Sarai questioned.
"The Oracles. They're seers, a connection to the Powers The Be...do you know about The Powers That Be?"
"DUH! I'm fifteen, not an idiot."
"Okay, I was just checking. So, okay, I'll go prepare to open the gate."
"Gate? Huh? There's a gate?"
"Um, Sarai, see, The Oracles are sort've located on another plain, like their own dimension."
"So, let me get this straight, you're going to fix our time hopping problem by having us go two another dimension? Am I the only one who finds this weird?"
"If you don't want to come, I will go for you," Angel offered.
Sarai shrugged, "nah, it's cool. I'll come. It'll screw up my motif if a portal to another dimension opens and I don't go through it."
"Gee, there's a rep I'd want to keep up," Cordelia snarked.
"Your bitchy...in a very cool way, I like you," Sarai replied.
"So, let's go to these Oracle people, shall we?" Ryan suggested.
About 45 minutes later, Angel had successfully got himself and the teenagers to see The Oracles.
"Hello there, come before us, lower beings," the female Oracle greeted.
'Come before me lower beings? That's awesone! I've got to start answering my door like that. I can't believe I've never thought of it,' Sarai thought.
'Great. Something tells be she's going to be using that 'lower being' line from on,' Ryan told himself.
"What is it you want from us?" the male Oracle asked.
"These kids, they keep on getting trapped in past years, and they can't figure out why, and one of them my..." Angel started to explain.
"The girl, it is her. She is the miracle child, the sacred one," the male Oracle interrupted.
"That's my name, and it'll never get worn out," Sarai replied. "So, why is this happening...Oracle people?"
"Because of you. The special one."
"That spell I did?"
"Not exactly," the female Oracle corrected. "Your spell was only the cause of your first travel. The Powers, have decided, once you were a year behind, to send you back further."
"Why?"
"Because you are the special one. They wanted you too see the events that led up to your miraculous arrival," the male said.
"Okay what is up with all the complements bro? Cause she's taken!" Ryan snapped, becoming jealous, which only boosted his girlfriends ego.
"What? You two are dating?" a surprised Angel questioned.
"Did you really think they were 'friends' vampire?" the female asked. "Wow, you really are unprepared for her coming."
"Tell me about it," Sarai said, proud of the fact that she completely throws her father for a loop, the once he thinks he's recovered from, she successfully does it again. "And Ryan please, if this Oracle dude feels the need to complement me and worship me, well who are we to deny him of that? Oh yeah, and for the record, if at any point you feel the need to do the worshiping on your knees, I won't object."
"Please, you may be the miracle child, but you are still a lower being. It is you who should worship me," the oracle replied. Ryan snickered.
"Well screw you," Sarai replied, which cause her, Ryan and Angel to get kicked out of the Oracles realm.
"Nice going," Ryan commented.
"Did you have to be so crude?" Angel slightly scolded.
"I could've said worse, I have said worse...much worse," she defended.
"So I guess we'll be on this trip for as long as these powers want, huh?" Ryan stated.
"It seems that was from what they said. Come on, you two should come back to my place," Angel said. As they started to head to the apartment, Sarai stopped short and stared at her father. Ryan noticed her stop and stopped with her.
"Something wrong?" he asked.
"Wrong? No. But... Every time we go back a year, I swear dad looks thinner. Weird..." she mused as she continued to walk again.
Later that night, Ryan was sleeping on Angel's sofa, and Sarai, due to Angel's request, was in his room, trying to fall asleep. Angel came in the bedroom holding a blanket. "It gets cold in here sometimes," he explained as he put the blanket on the bed. He didn't leave the room though, he stood still and looked at the one thing he never thought he'd have.
"Is there something you wanted?" she asked.
"Oh...sorry...it's just..."
"A bit weird that your future child suddenly shows up? It's okay, you can say it."
Angel softly laughed, "okay. I didn't want you to get the wrong idea though. It's weird that you're here...but it's not bad."
"Are you lonely? Cause, ever since I saw you in the office, you've had your lonely face on."
"I don't have a lonely face," Angel argued.
"Yea you do. It resembles the world-famous-broody face, but there's a difference. And I know when it's the lonely face, because you have it on whenever I come home from being out a long time and when it's the broody face, because, well, that's your regular face, so you can't hide it."
Angel sat on the bed, "I don't know...I guess...maybe a little," he confessed.
"I knew it. The theory stands."
"What?"
"Never mind."
"Okay."
Sarai moved close enough to her dad to pat him on the head, " I'd try and comfort you about your loneliness more, but I'm tired."
"That's okay," he assured her.
Sarai flung her arm around him, he hesitated for a moment before reciprocating. "Night, daddy, love you," she said before getting back to a sleeping position.
"Same to you, Sarai." He sat on the bed and watched her sleep for a while, in what some could consider awe, that she was really his. He watched until she started to talk in her sleep about cheese, marshmellows, strawberries, hot dogs, manic clowns, more cheese, and something called 'the gel rebellion'. That confused and scared him into leaving her alone to sleep.
However, when she and Ryan awoke, they found themselves in yet another time.
A/N: Where are they you ask? Well, you'll just have to wait and see. Well, actually, you can review, wait and see. And to those celebrating Easter today; Happy Easter.