Chapter 3

Thanks for the reviews! Here's some more.

***

Darla moved slightly. This was...wrong. She was lying on a cold floor, covered by a blanket. And, oh yeah, she was solid! Again. This had to be one of the dumbest things ever. With her eyes still closed, Darla rehashed what she remembered. Okay, Angel killed her, fine. Wolfram and Hart then bring her back, human. She gets vamped, sleeps with Angel, suddenly becomes pregnant because of some weird prophecy, and then kills herself for her baby. Yep that was it, yet here she was alive again. For the first time Darla noticed her heart beating and the fact that she had to breathe. Oh, alive, if the fully human, not in the undead way. Slowly she opened her eyes.

***

Everyone watched at Darla moved, then waited until her eyes finally opened. She looked around confused.

"Huh?"

"Darla?" Angel brought her attention to him.

"Angel." Darla looked at him, still confused but less nervous knowing he was with her. He always did that for her. "What am I doing here?"

Angel looked into her eyes. "I don't know."

"I remember everything. I remember killing myself. And yet somehow I'm back, again. I don't understand."

"I know. But we'll figure it out."

Darla smiled at him. "I know. You've never let me down."

Angel smiled back at her, but then remembered something. Yes, he had let her down. Their son stood watching them. Fascinated by his mother. He hadn't taken care of their son like he had promised her. Holtz had raised Connor, and it occurred to Angel that he didn't know what Connor knew about Darla.

"Actually, there is something we need to talk about."

"Angel, I hate to interrupt, but I have a feeling that the talk you want to have with going to be long. It would seem that the powers have set Darla to us, as sort of an answer to our problems. We need information about the Beast."

"Yeah, but if I don't remember, how do we know she will."

"We don't for sure, but it's worth a shot."

"What Beast?" Darla asked, sitting up, making sure the blanket was still covering everything.

"This big, stony looked apocalypse beast."

"Oh. Great."

"I have drawings that may help, but first I want to introduce you to someone. Connor?" Connor moved towards them, coming into Darla's line of vision. "This is Connor. Our son."

Darla gasped as she looked at her son. Her baby. He was perfect. There was so much of Angel in him. "Our son?"

Connor looked down at his mother, tears were forming in her eyes and Connor felt his own eyes become wet. He felt like a little kid who wanted nothing more than for their mother to hold them and make everything okay.

Darla felt the tears on her cheeks and noticed the ones making their way to her son's as well. She let go of Angel's hand and opened her arms for her son.

Connor moved into his mother's arms and was folding into a protective and loving embrace. And for the first time he knew where he belonged.

The others moved away from the family reunion. Busying themselves around the office.

Angel smiled at the sight of this family together. This is what he had imagined when Darla was still pregnant with Connor. The three of them as a family.

"Mom?" Connor pulled away slightly.

"Yes, Connor?"

"I love you." It was the first time Connor had said those words in this dimension.

"I love you too." Darla pulled him close again.

Angel hated to break up the moment but he knew that explanations were soon to come and they would take a while, plus he wanted to allow Darla to get dressed first.

"Cordelia? Can Darla borrow some of the clothes you have here?" Angel asked.

"Sure." Cordelia answered from behind the counter.

"Thanks."

When Connor pulled out of her arms so she could get up, Darla realized how empty her arms felt. She longed to hold her baby again, just a little longer. But she knew that the idea of having a mother was still knew to Connor so she let him go. Then she noticed something. She looked around the room again to make sure. Yep, something was definitely off.

"Angel?"

"Yeah?" Angel helped Darla to her feet.

"How long have I been gone? Connor's a teenager, but know one else looks any different."

"Yeah, that's one of the things we have to talk about. You've been gone about a year."

"What? But how...?"

"I'll explain after you get dressed."

"This had better be a damn good explanation." Darla said as she followed him up the stairs.

***

I'll try to write more this weekend. Please review and let me know what you think.