CONSEQUENCES

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy and Morgan and Michelle.

CHAPTER 22-HOSPITAL DISCOUNT CARDS

The first rays of the sun caught him straight away in the eye. He jerked awake at the burning sensation and hoped that the rest of the curtains were shut lest Nina wake up and find herself in bed with a pile of ashes. Rolling off of the bed and to the floor Angel darted his gaze around, looking for whichever curtain hadn't been closed fully enough. When he finally located it he crawled around the foot of the bed and fully closed them, gritting his teeth against the smell and pain of burning flesh. Cursing softly under his breath Angel slipped into the bathroom and washed the area off quickly. It was several minutes before the wound was completely healed, enough time for Nina to notice that she was alone in bed.

"Angel," Nina whispered softly with a still half asleep pout on her face and a little bit of drool hanging out the edge of her mouth as she lifted her head up just a bit.

"Over here," Angel said softly with a slightly nervous look on his face as he walked out of the bathroom just in time to see Nina roll over onto her back and squint in his direction.

"What are you," Nina began to ask softly with a tired and confused look on her face before she was cut off by a large yawn.

"Had to close the blinds, got a rude awakening," Angel whispered back with a soft snicker on his face as he knelt down beside the bed and gently reached up and trailed his index finger from her collarbone down towards her navel. She snickered as his finger began its quest, thankful that she had decided to go au natural that night.

"Did it hurt," Nina asked with a worried look on her face as she rolled over onto her side and reached out and carefully rubbed the red skin under Angel's right eye with her thumb.

"I've had worse," Angel joked with a cheesy grin on his face as he took Nina's hand in one of his own and kissed the back of it.

"I'm sure," Nina shot back with a sarcastic pout on her face before Angel allowed her to pull him back up onto the bed, wasting away a couple more hours before the rest of the house woke up.

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David yawned widely as he wrapped his bathrobe around himself and tied it closed. He had just woken up from one of the best dreams of his life. His silk pajamas had kept him cool, as someone had turned the thermostat up a little to high. He did his best to rub the sleep out of his eyes as he slowly and carefully made his way down the long staircase to the ground floor. He yawned again as he entered the living room before a welcome sight caught his attention. Spike sat on the couch with his feet resting up on the coffee table. Dawn lay on the couch beside him, with her head on a pillow on his lap and from the looks of Spike's duster as a blanket. As he approached Dawn looked pretty content so he decided to not wake them. He failed to notice one of Spike's eyes opening to a small slit as he left the room. He walked into the kitchen to find a stone-faced Connor sitting at the table reading the morning paper.

"Good morning Connor," David said with a warm smile on his face as he walked past the table on his way to the refrigerator, he got no response.

"He's been like that all morning," Katy whispered softly to David as she walked into the kitchen and joined him at the refrigerator.

"I have not," Connor finally grumbled with an unhappy and frustrated scowl on his face as he didn't look up from the table.

"He speaks," Katy announced with a proud smile on her face as she mock celebrated by throwing her hands up in the air in a victorious pose.

"Whatever," Connor grumbled back with an unhappy scowl on his face before he stood up and walked out of the room, right as Morgan walked in. Neither one looked at the other before Morgan sat down in the seat that Connor had vacated and lazily traced something on the table with her finger.

"Something bothering you Morgan," Katy asked softly in a very nice voice as she pulled a jug of milk out of the fridge and got two glasses out of the cupboard before pulling out a chair and sitting down beside Morgan.

"Maybe," Morgan said back with a less than thrilled look on her face as Katy poured them both a glass of milk.

"Wanna talk about it," David asked with an eager smile on his face as he shut the refrigerator door and got a glass for himself before sitting down on the opposite side of the table to Morgan and pouring himself a glass of milk.

"What is this…an intervention," Morgan asked with a confused and subtly angry scowl on her face as she reluctantly took her glass and stared at it oddly for a few seconds before taking a sip of milk.

"Yeah…a milk intervention," David replied with a wide grin on his face as he leaned back in his chair and then took a big drink of milk.

"Sounds like fun, deal me in," Willow said with a softly laugh as she walked into the room and headed over towards the cupboard to get herself a glass.

"Stay out of this," Morgan growled with an angry scowl on her face before she set her glass down on the table and stormed out of the room.

"Was it something I said," Willow mumbled with a confused and surprised look on her face before the telephone rang.

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"What were they thinking, they could have been caught," Angel exclaimed with an angry scowl on his face as he walked down the halls of the hospital towards the elevator.

"I think it's safe to say that they had other things on their minds last night Angel, besides as drunken indiscretions go I think they both had a nice night," Spike countered with a dirty smirk on his face as he winked at a few of the nurses as they walked by.

"Apart from the whole nearly getting killed part," Dawn said with a serious look on her face as she rolled her eyes and scowled at Spike's actions.

"Well yeah…there was that," Spike said back with a softer tone in his voice before he threw an arm around Dawn and pulled her into a one-arm hug as they all continued to walk down the hallway.

"You see Spike, forgetfulness, the first sign of old age," Dawn quipped with a sly grin on her face as she slid her arm around Spike and tried to hide her grin.

"Hey now, I am not old, I'm not even two hundred, you want to talk about old ask Peaches over there…he's practically ancient," Spike said back with a short chuckle as the group rounded a corner. Angel started to reply before he heard a chorus of laughter behind him.

"How old are you anyway," Katy asked with an interested smile on her face as she hurried to catch up to Angel and walk beside him.

"To old," Angel glumly replied before he picked up his pace and left Katy and the others in his dust until they all got to the nurses station just as Angel received the directions to Wesley's hospital room.

"At least they registered under a fake name," Spike noticed with an approving tone to his voice as he and Angel walked into the room and saw Wesley asleep on the bed, hooked up to a few machines, and Faith curled up next to him on a chair, looking very tiny. It was then that Angel and Spike were overcome with more than one mixed scent. Nina however took a bit longer to determine exactly what a couple of the scents meant. Immediately she turned to Angel for confirmation and scrunched up her face in slight surprise and confusion before Angel whispered something softly into her ear.

"He doesn't look so good," Willow said with a worried, and almost tearful, look in her eyes as she slowly made her way around the edge of the bed and leaned in close to Wesley's chest, inspecting the bandages.

"Doesn't smell to good either," Spike added with a grim scowl on his face as he and Angel shared a nervous glance before Faith shifted in her seat a bit.

"Well she's not exactly a shining beacon of health either, look," Dawn interjected with a scared and serious look on her face as she knelt down beside Faith and noticed the bandages wrapped tightly around her chest and back under her loose fitting shirt.

"Leave it to Faith to run into one severely pissed off sabatin demon," Angel started to say with a concerned scowl on his face before he was interrupted.

"Three…three sabatin demons, not one," Faith mumbled softly as her lips barely moved before she opened her eyes into slits and glanced over at Angel.

"Three…well you two won the bloody lottery, didn't you…," Spike said softly with an only lightly sarcastic tone to his voice though Angel could hear the seriousness behind the sarcasm. Sabatin demons were not to be taken lightly, more often than not they were to be avoided if at all possible, even by vampires.

"There…was a dalab…demon…as well…," Wesley whispered out softly through gritted teeth as his eyes remained closed and it seemed that every word was uttered at a great expense to him.

"Hey…the doctors said that you're supposed to take it easy," Faith started to say with a sleepy expression on her face before he eyes popped open and she instantly turned to Wesley.

"What's a dalab demon," Nina wondered with an anxious expression on her face as Faith helped Wesley take a drink from his hospital thermos.

"Nasty buggers, at least six feet tall and take the phrase built like a tank seriously, their skin is bulletproof," Spike answered with a grim and serious frown on his face as he walked back and shut the door, but not before checking both ways down the hallway.

"But their eyes aren't," Faith countered with a proud smirk on her face as she set the water hospital thermos back on the tray.

"What's that supposed to…oh…oh yuck," Dawn started to ask with a confused look on her face before she realized what Faith had meant and a disgusted look appeared on her face.

"So what's the prognosis," Katy asked with a slightly scared look on her face as she walked up to Wesley and tried to appear positive.

"Cracked ribs, a million and one bruises, matching scars on both shoulders…and one hell of a nightcap," Angel replied with a calm and collected tone to his voice before he couldn't help but smile at the look that Faith shot him while Spike barely glanced up from looking at the paperwork that Angel had handed him.

"No kidding," Nina added with a slightly overwhelmed look on her face before she motioned to Angel that she was going to leave the room and get some air.

"There…wasn't time to…call you, it…all happened…to fast," Wesley finally said with a pained grimace on his face as he laid his hand out flat on his chest and then coughed up a bit of blood.

"I know, the two of you are lucky to be still in one piece, but now we have to get you out of here, we've given Wolfram and Hart the slip long enough but I know that they're closing in, we're running out of time to find and cast the spell," Angel said with a very serious look on his face as he walked over and picked up the bag that held Wesley's clothes off of the small chair.

"Don't worry Angel, I won't let you down, when we get back I'm going to find that spell and stop Wolfram and Hart from hurting any more of my friends," Willow stated with a very certain and determined expression on her face as she stood straight up and made sure that Angel heard her.

"I know you won't Willow, I think it's time that I call in an old fri…jerk," Angel started to say with a somewhat more hopeful look on his face before the light disappeared from his eyes and Katy got the strong impression that whoever Angel was thinking of calling it was someone that Angel did not like.

"Who do you…ah bloody hell not him…anybody but him," Spike started to ask with a confused look on his face before he caught Angel's eye and looked ready to punch a hole in the wall.

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Buffy sat down on the park bench and began to watch the people as they went about their day, wishing more than anything that she was one of them. She had thought that after the destruction of Sunnydale that the world would have found a new champion and that she could get a little peace and quiet. But then the explosion in LA had happened and once again she was thrust back into having the weight of the world on her shoulders, or so she thought. So wrapped up in her thoughts was she that she didn't notice Giles walking towards her.

"We will get through this Buffy," Giles said softly with a concerned look on his face as he sat down on the park bench beside Buffy and watched as she dropped her head into her hands.

"I know we will Giles, but how, I mean…God, he's doing it to me again…turning my entire life upside down, and on top of that my oh so patient boyfriend wants me to leave with him tonight and return to Rome for a fashion show," Buffy said with a completely overwhelmed edge to her voice as she kept her head in her hands and looked like the weight of the world was crushing her.

"Angel," Giles offered up softly with a sympathetic expression on his face as he gazed down at Buffy.

"Who else," Buffy groaned with an annoyed scowl on her face as she pulled her head out of her hands and turned to Giles momentarily before looking back out over the park and watching a leaf being blow around by the wind.

"I don't pretend to know what Angel's plan is, but so far I believe that it's safe to say that both Willow and Dawn are alive and relatively unharmed," Giles said with a serious but hopeful look on his face as he leaned down and picked up a large leaf off of the ground.

"You don't sound to convincing you know," Buffy shot back with a less than excited look on her face as she leaned back on the bench and stared up into the sky.

"I'm sorry Buffy, but look at it this way, if Angel had lost his soul and become Angelus again he would have already killed both Willow and Dawn and used that fact to taunt you, or he would have turned one of them and sent them to kill you, or something of that nature…," Giles replied with a nervous and very concerned look on his face as he slowly began to tear the leaf apart before Buffy interrupted.

"That's really making me feel better about this," Buffy said with a very sarcastic look on her face and tone to her voice as she glanced over at Giles.

"Well then you've uncovered Giles' superpower, scaring us even more than we already were," Xander interjected with an overly humorous smile on his face as he walked up to the pair with a nervous looking Lorne not to far behind him.

"Thank you for that inane and completely useless comment Xander," Giles grumbled with a frustrated and annoyed scowl on his face as he snapped his gaze up at the former carpenter.

"Hey now, there's no need to get snippy," Lorne said with a lightly scolding tone of voice as he walked up and tried to smile warmly at Giles.

"No one asked for your opinion Lorne," Giles shot back with an unhappy scowl on his face as he looked up at the empath demon just as a car pulled up to the park and a bald man got out.

"Okay everybody, let's just calm down and…Robin," Buffy started to say with a nervous expression on her face as she stood up and positioned herself in between Lorne and Giles before she spotted the former principal of Sunnydale High School walking towards her.

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"Uh…Angel, can I ask you something," Willow asked softly with a timid look on her face as she walked into the kitchen while Angel set a mug of blood in the microwave and shut the door.

"Sure, just as long as it's not about my plan for stopping Wolfram and Hart," Angel said back with a calm and collected edge to his voice as he entered the time and hit the start button.

"Okay, did…did she…Cordelia, did she…suffer, when she died," Willow stammered out softly with a scared and sad pout on her face as she slid onto one of the stools and waited for what she expected to be Angel's angry outburst. What she got instead was the sight of Angel's shoulders slumping a bit and his whole demeanor changing to one of a person who had lost someone very special to them and hadn't completely worked through their grief.

"I…no, I don't think so…I'm not sure, I don't even completely understand what happened to her," Angel answered with a very soft and sad tone to his voice as he refrained from turning around and instead glanced up at the novelty calendar that David had put up on the wall.

"You lost me…what's there to understand, she is dead…right," Willow wondered with a confused look on her face as she picked up the salt and pepper shakers and began to rearrange them.

"Yes, it's just that when I got the call that she had woken up from the coma Wes and I flew over there so fast…probably ran more than a few red lights on the way, everything was going great until I got that damn call telling me that she had never woken up from the coma and slipped away peacefully, except then if she never woke up who…or what was it that I talked to all day, that I…," Angel answered softly with a depressed and then confused look on his face as the microwave beeped and he opened the door and took the mug out.

"Are you sure that she was ever there, maybe you dreamed the whole thing…or hallucinated it," Willow offered with an anxious and confused expression on her face as she set the salt and pepper shakers down.

"No Willow…I didn't hallucinate that kiss, she was real…enough, if you don't believe me then you can ask Spike," Angel snapped back with a very certain and confident growl in his voice before it became soft and he glanced away, bringing the mug to his lips and taking a sip.

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Doing their best to keep a low profile the migrations began. One from the sewers and tunnels underneath London and the surrounding cities and the other from across the globe as the best of the best was rushed to London to battle the threat that they had been alerted to only hours earlier. Both groups were heading straight towards London, with one rejoicing at the return of one of their own to the fold while the other to stop an apocalypse that they believed was only days away. One group hid from the light of day while the others hid in the shadows of everyday life until an opportunity arose to continue their crusade. Whichever side would win was not really important to the one that had sent out the alarm hours earlier, he only cared about a diversion for himself and those that he loved.

END OF CHAPTER 22