A/N: First of all, a big shout out goes to Moonjava - thanks for the review. Hope you continue to enjoy the story.

I'm actually really excited with the way this is taking shape, both in my head and on paper- it started out as a random idea, grew and kept on growing. Expect major angst, prophecies, apocalyptic battles and the appearance of several well-loved and familiar faces in future chapters. Well, now that I've hyped the story up big style, on with the show... PS: Make my day - read and review.

Angel yawned and stretched slightly, as the warm sunlight that caressed his face roused him from his sleep. He couldn't help but smile at the fact that, not six months ago, the idea of lying in direct sunlight would have caused him to cower into the shadows. But not anymore. Things had changed.

And as he looked down at the sleeping beauty at his side, nestled into him in her slumber, he thought of just how much things had changed. How all of his brooding had been replaced with so much happiness. Placing a kiss on Cordelia's head, he woke her as he did every morning.

'Morning gorgeous,' she said. He kissed her good morning in reply. She smiled. 'Mmm, a girl could get used to waking up like this.'

'Get used to it,' Angel replied, smiling at his wife. With that he kissed her again, their passion and love for one another heating up his no longer room temperature blood. They made love in the sunlight and Angel had never known such pure joy.

It was Sunday, Angel's favourite day of the week, as it meant that he didn't have to go to work but could spend the day with his family. They took Connor to the park, ate ice-cream, all the normal family stuff that both he and Cordy had longed for. It wasn't until the settled down for the evening, just before dusk, that things started to get strange.

Cordy was chatting about a trip they were thinking of taking to Europe. She was just beginning to talk about dates and flights when she stopped talking altogether. Angel looked at her, and saw she was frozen, her mouth half opened, in the middle of her sentence. Looking down to the floor, he was saw Connor had stopped moving as well, frozen in tableau with his toys.

'What the…' he started, before a familiar voice from behind him cut him off.

'Hey handsome.'

Leaping to his feet he spun around to be faced with… Cordelia? His eyes flew back and forth between the Cordy in front of him and the Cordy still sitting frozen on the couch. The Cordy standing in front of him looked different. There was a luminescence about her, aided and abetted by the flowing white clothes she was wearing.

'I know, I know,' the non-frozen Cordy said. 'It's a tad confusing. Let me make it simple for you. That's not me,' she said, pointing at herself on the couch.

'That's not you?' Angel said, completely confused. 'Who the hell are you?'

'Who do you think I am, silly?' Cordy answered with a smile. 'Look, Angel, I don't have much time…'

'You're damn right you don't,' Angel said with a growl, stalking towards her. He pointed to the door. 'Get the hell away from my family!'

'Angel, you need to calm down and listen to me. The Powers can only hide my presence here for a short time,' Cordelia said in a firm voice. 'Do you really think that all this,' she gestured round the room, 'is your life?'

'Actually I do,' Angel said. 'I fought long and hard for…'

'Yes, you did,' Cordelia cut him off. 'And you deserve to have your reward. But this isn't it. This is hell.'

Angel laughed despite his anger and confusion. 'Lady, I don't know who you are, but I've been to hell, and this isn't it.'

'There are all sorts of hells, Angel,' Cordy replied reasonably. 'Some are full of fire and brimstone and some involve sitting on a cloud watching everyone you love fall in battle while you can do nothing to help.' Cordelia had tried to keep her voice steady, but her emotions were starting to get the better of her.

Angel heard the pain in her voice. This thing was doing a very good impression of Cordy, but he wasn't going to buy it. 'Yeah, there are all kinds of hell. But believe me, this isn't one of them. We're happy. For the first time, we're at peace. We're a family. It's what I've always wanted.'

'But it's a little too perfect, isn't?' she told him. 'Image, you and me, living under the same roof, never arguing? Never disagreeing on anything? It's a little far fetched, don't ya think?'

'It's…' Angel faltered. He remembered the old days. No matter how well they got along and cared for each other, he and Cordy were two very strong personalities. They disagreed all the time. But now…

'This is an idealised version of the world. That is not me. I'm dead. I died several months ago, after being in a coma for the best part of a year.'

'No! You came out of the coma. You came home.'

'No Angel,' Cordelia shook her head sadly. Tears were forming in her eyes. 'The Powers let me come back for a day. To put you back on your mission. I never really woke up.'

'I suppose next you're going to tell me that little boy isn't my son, either.'

'That's not Connor. Connor is nineteen years old. This is not your life. It's a construct. Designed to keep your mind imprisoned.'

'Like in the Matrix?' Angel asked.

'Geez, what is it with you guys and the Matrix?' Cordelia asked, rolling her eyes. 'Yes, exactly like that. This day is on a loop. Everyday you get up, spend a blissfully happy day with what you think is your family…'

'Wow, sounds like torture,' Angel replied sarcastically. 'However have I survived?'

'Then every evening,' Cordy pressed on, 'four vampires break into your home and kill your wife and child while making you watch.'

'You sick bitch,' Angel said, his fury rising. 'I don't know what kind of a sick joke you're…'

'It's no joke, Angel,' Cordelia cut him off. 'It'll happen within moments of me leaving. Then you black out, wake up the next morning, and repeat the cycle all over again.'

'Why? Why are you telling me this?'

'Because you need to know. Because every time you see vampires rip the throats out of what you think is your family, you lose another piece of your soul. It'll go on and on until there is nothing left of you. This is the senior partners' punishment for you going up against them.'

'I don't believe you.'

'You don't believe me because you don't want to,' Cordy replied. 'You want so badly for this life to be real. I understand. I wish it was, Angel. But it's not. And I need you to come back into the real world.'

'Even if this is true. If all this isn't real…' Angel hung his head. 'Why would I go back? What would be the point?'

'Because you still have a destiny to fulfil,' Cordy said, moving towards him. 'This isn't over. You can't let Wolfram and Hart win.'

'How can I go back?' he asked, his voice anguished. 'How can I go back into a world without… without you?'

'Angel…'

'No! Everyone I ever cared about is gone. The whole team is dead. I'm the only one left. You say that you died in reality. So what the hell do I have to go back for?'

'Your son!' Cordy yelled at him. 'Remember him? He's still out there and he's going to need your help.'

Angel looked away from her, shaking his head. Cordelia moved closer and place her hand on his cheek, turning his face round to look at her.

'Please, Angel,' she pleaded. 'I need you to keep fighting. You have to do this. Your reward is still waiting for you. You just need to remember who you are.'

Tears had begun to run silently down his face. 'So I'm meant to give all this up? Just because the Powers need their champion back? Is that it? Well, the Powers can go to hell! They gave up on me a long time ago.'

Cordy shook her head. 'No, Angel. You gave up on them.'

'I gave up on them when they gave up on you!'

'They didn't give up on me, Angel. They messed up, sure. They didn't see Jasmine coming. None of us did. But they're trying to make amends for that now.'

Angel looked at his family and then back at Cordy. He was so conflicted, not knowing what to believe, or even what he wanted to believe.

'I need my champion back in the ring,' Cordy told him. 'You won't be alone in this. I promise. You need to do this. For yourself. For Connor. For me.'

'But, I…' Angel started to say. Cordelia stepped away from him quickly looking up at the ceiling.

'I have to go,' she said urgently. 'The spell that's hiding me from the Partners' is starting to wear off. Remember what I said. Remember who you are and fight for us.' With that she was gone, disappearing in a flash of light.

The Cordelia on the couch began to talk again, and then stopped, looking across the room at her husband. 'Wow, I must really have zoned out there. I didn't even see you get up. You getting Connor's bedtime drink?'

'Uh, yeah,' Angel replied, still dazed from what had happened. Shaking off what had been said, he walked to the kitchen. It was nonsense, he thought. None of it could be true. He had either gone off into some kind of weird daydream or someone was messing with him. Well, he wasn't going to fall for it, whatever the case was.

He was putting the carton of apple juice back in the fridge when he heard glass breaking. Running back into the living room he saw four vampires enter his house. The thought of how vampires could possible enter his home without an invitation was quickly replaced by the memory of what Cordy had just told him. Four vampires.

Cordy had scooped up Connor, moving as far away from the vamps as possible and grabbing a lamp to serve as a make-shift weapon. Forgetting everything else, Angel rushed at the vamps, barrelling into them. He landed a punch on the nearest vampire's jaw. The fiend's head snapped back, but he recovered quickly enough to grin and head-butt Angel without batting an eye. Angel spun around with the force, straight into the fist of another vamp. He managed to block the next blow and sent a kick in the direction of a third vamp. Landing a fierce upper cut to the vamp directly in front of him, he tried to get to Cordelia, who was being cornered by the fourth member of the group. She was trying to hold him off, but with Connor in her arms, Angel knew she wouldn't be able to fight effectively.

Angel made it half way across the room when he was grabbed by two of the vamps. They pinned his arms behind his back, while the third vampire rained down punches on him. The vampires were too strong for him. He was helpless, but he kept on struggling, especially when he saw the fourth vampire disarm Cordelia and snatch Connor out of her arms.

Fighting like a wild thing for her son, Cordy jumped on the vampire's back. Connor was screaming for his mommy. The vamp who had been punching Angel went after Cordy, dragging her off the other vampire and punching her in the face.

'Cordy!' Angel yelled, fighting to get away. The vampire holding Connor walked up to him and kicked him in the face. Dazed, Angle felt one of the vampires holding him grab him by the hair and jerk his head up. The realisation hit him. They were going to make him watch.

The vampire holding Cordy sunk his teeth into her neck. Connor's screams were soon silenced by the vampire holding him, as he snapped the child's neck and began to drink.

'NO!' Angel screamed. Cordy's wide eyes locked with his. And then she was gone.

Tears poured down his face as both Cordelia and Conner fell to the floor. Fury and pain coursed through him. He had been told this would happen. Why couldn't he prevent it? Anger and hatred for his family's killers boiled up and he felt his face change. His forehead grew bumpy, fangs appeared in his mouth. His yellow eyes locked on his four opponents.

His transformation gave the vampire's pause. He was meant to be human, not a vampire. Their hesitation was their obituary. Flinging the two vamps that held him across the room, he grabbed the broken leg of an end table that had been broken in the earlier struggle. Without pause, he staked the two vamps that had killed his family, before finishing off the other two. Then, collapsing on the floor, he wept.

He woke up much later: minutes, hours; he had no concept of time. He didn't even remember falling asleep. All he could remember was his loss, his terrible loss. He felt like his unbeating heart had been ripped from him.

He suddenly realised that he was no longer on the floor of his house. He was in a dark alleyway. Looking around, he saw that it was the same alley in which he had fought his last battle against the forces of Wolfram and Hart. He could still see evidence of the carnage. He could still smell the blood.

'Angel?' a familiar voice asked in the darkness, startling him. He looked up to see three women, a blonde and brunette and a red-head, moving towards him.

To Be Continued... In the next chapter we return to my beloved Hyperion, Angel reunites with some old allies and we find out a little more about just what the heck is going on...