Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Angel, just Sienna and Ashiria
Things you need to know before I start:
Italics - thoughts of characters
" " - things said by characters
( ) - things I put in to help you if you are confused….or just my random comments (or not so random, depends)
Note: This story starts between 'Dead End' and 'Belonging' so no Connor stuff has happened yet.
Chapter 2:
After about a minute Angel came out of his shocked state. "Um, hi, yeah c-c-come in and si-sit d-down," Angel meekly stuttered. The dark blue cloaked figure in the doorway nodded a thank you and stepped inside and down the front steps.
The soaking wet figure slid off its cloak to reveal an astonishing sight. There, before their eyes, stood the most magnificent being any of them had ever encountered. She had the body of a human female except for a few things. Her ears were shaped like a horse, her hair was mane-like and a mix of white and silver, she had a long beautiful tail like a horse to match her hair, and she had an extraordinary white unicorn horn in the center of her forehead. Her eyes were an aqua blue, her hair went just past her hips, she was as slender as Christina Aguilera except for her stomach which had an all too familiar bulge that was quite large indeed, her skin was a good amount paler than Angel's (and that's saying something), her nose was tiny, she walked gracefully, and had a large chest. She wore a diamond choker; a diamond bracelet on each hand; gold 4 inch platform boots, that crisscrossed up her legs; and a long, black dress that was tight until you reached the thighs, then it got very loose. The sleeves of the dress were tight until just above the elbow and then did the same as the material on the thighs did, reaching just above the wrists. The dress had a slit down the middle of the dress, reaching from knees down. She was also shivering from the cold.
"Fred, go fetch some warm blankets. Wesley, go make some Coffee. Cordy, go get some fresh clothes for her to wear. And Gunn, you collect some towels from the bathroom upstairs so she can dry off," barked Angel a bit more harsh and commanding then he meant it. That sent everyone off in different directions strait away to do what was needed of them. "Come, sit, and relax. They will be back in a minute," said Angel gently to the guest as he took her hand and led her over to the nearest couch. Angel sat as well, right next to her and they sat in an uncomfortable silence. Gunn came back first, a few minutes later, followed by Fred, and then Cordelia. They handed their guest the items and Angel brought her to a room upstairs to change and dry.
"You can change in here and meet me downstairs when you are done," motioned Angel as he stood in the doorway of a bedroom.
"Thank you very much," replied the woman softly and sweetly to Angel. In return, Angel just nodded solemnly and went downstairs.
"Who is she and what is she?" demanded Gunn as soon as Angel sat down.
"I'll let her explain that when she gets back down. It's, well, complicated," answered Angel unsteadily. In reply, Gunn just sighed deeply and sank back down on the couch, anxious to know who this stranger was. They sat quietly together for the next 5 minutes, with the only sound being Wesley in the kitchen.
Suddenly, their guest started walking down the stairs, gathering everyone's attention. She gracefully made her way over to the couch and sat herself down. Gunn was about to speak when, all of a sudden there was a sound of crashing from the kitchen and a loud, "Bloody hell!"
Angel sighed and shook his head sadly. Wesley, Wesley, Wesley. Angel stood up slowly and said, "I'll be right back," to no one in particular, making his way to the kitchen.
Ten minutes, 5 "Angel, I've got it"s, 6 "Dammit!"s, 4 "Bloody hell!"s, 4 more broken coffee mugs, 3 coffee spills, 3 burnt fingers, 2 sponges, and an "Ok, you can do it but hurry up Wesley"s later, Wesley (followed by Angel) waltzed into the room carrying a pot of coffee, sugar, cream, and 6 cups on a tray.
Gunn snickered an mockingly put in, "Great coordination, Dumb and Dumber!" with a sly grin on his face as Angel and Wesley sat down, after placing the tray on the table between them of course.
"Shut up Gunn," replied Wesley and Angel in a harshly in unison, which had Gunn snickering again. Meanwhile, Fred and the guest were silently giggling behind their hands.
Everyone finally got serious and all attention was on the newly arrived guest who had blankets wrapped around her. "Who are you?" asked Gunn curiously, breaking the momentary silence.
"My name is Ashiria and I am from the dimension called Shayroca." The group just stared in confusion at Ashiria at the mention of her home dimension. Ashiria continued, "Shayroca is another dimension that kind of resembles your, how you say, Middle Ages, in looks. There are castles, knights, royalty, and the same style of houses, the dragons, unicorns, and mystical creatures. There are witches and wizards, we travel by foot or horse, and there are no factories or anything like that. No, fast food, or grocery stores, or cars, or bikes, or computers, nor TV, or even many of the foods you have like ice cream for example. We have a little bit of technology, but it is far different from what there is here. There are countless forests, meadows, trees, rivers, streams, and oceans. There is so very much more nature there than here. We speak none of the languages you do, except for English. The world is much bigger than this on as well."
Wesley sipped his coffee and then thoughtfully said, "Well, we did not have dragons and magical beasts, though many did believe. There were many 'reports' throughout the years and in 1220 A.D., as well as…"
"Save it Wes!" cried Angel, Fred, and Gunn in unison, drawing a sulk from Wesley.
"You'll have to forgive English over there; I think he was born with 'annoy you to death with boring, useless facts' disease. The doctors tried everything and they found it was medically untreatable. This is too bad really, because the disease is fatal. It causes hard objects such as books, poles, and, well just about anything to hit him on the head. And I assure you that it is an absolute and utter coincidence that the objects are in the hands of the annoyed people around him who would do anything to shut him up," stated Gunn casually with a serious look on his face. Wesley sent Gunn a death glare, and everyone else cracked up at Gunn's comment.
Ashiria settled down and allowed the others to do the same. She then said, "Well then, now it's time to get down to business, and to get into what I came here for." Everyone else nodded for her to continue. "Well, since it's obvious that Angel did not tell you anything, I shall start at the beginning," started Ashiria, ignoring the confused glances at Angel, "As I'm sure you all know Angel lost his soul 9 months ago. Well, he um paid me a visit while he was Angelus. That night set off something, special. Now, 9 months later I am back with someone who shall belong to Angel. It will be his."
By this point everyone was in total shock with their mouths hanging open, even Angel. "Is she saying what I think she's saying," asked Gunn cautiously.
"Good lord!" exclaimed Wesley.
"Ok, I'll take that as a yes," said Gunn slowly. Meanwhile, Fred, Angel, and Cordy just stood shock-still and silent (with their mouths still hanging open).
"But, how?" asked Angel softly, recovering from his shock and bringing Fred and Cordy out with him. "It's impossible."
Ashiria sighed and shook her head sadly, "Angel, you of all people should know that there is a loop hole in almost everything. Well, in this case I am the loop hole, well my kind. My kind, the Keratsu (ker-aut-sue), are able to mate with and have offspring with our own kind, humans, vampires, and several different kinds of other demons beyond vamps as well. In my home dimension, it is a normal thing for a Keratsu to have a vampire's child, though it is not usually of their own free will. The child will be born 100 Keratsu, with just a few of the vampire parent's traits."
"Wow!" exclaimed everyone in unison.
"Yes, and now down to the main reason I am here. I am dying and I came to the decision that it was best to leave the baby with you, Angel, its father."
At this everyone went into shock mode and was silent for a couple of minutes. Then Angel shook his head in acknowledgement and gravely replied, "I will take good care of her and I assure that she will be well loved."
Ashiria smiled in return and all of a sudden, as if on cue, she doubled over in pain. "I think my water just broke." It was clear to everyone that the hospital was out of the question.
"Do any of ya know how to deliver a baby?" questioned Gunn nervously, glancing hopefully around the room to everyone.
TBC: Angel has to deal with the birth of his new child, a couple consequences, and the prospect of becoming a new father.