A/N: Wow! I'm really touched by the response I'm getting to this story. Thank you all so much for the reviews. I hope you continue to enjoy it. Please let me know if you are. Special shout out to 'Kina' - Don't worry, I much prefer the more together, less homicidal version of Connor that appeared in NFA too, so that's who'll be appearing in my story. I did plan on having a big Father-Son reunion in this chapter, and but the story kind of got away from me and I had so much else to get through, so expect a more indepth Father-Son talk in chapter 6. And as for the 'familiar face' who rejoins the group... I ended up pushing that part of the story back a little bit. All good things to those who wait...

Now, on with the show...

Disclaimer: They're not mine, they're just on loan...

The sewer tunnels were dank and cold as always, but neither Angel nor Faith noticed or cared. Angel was too busy worrying about his son. Cordelia's words rang through his head - 'Your son! Remember him? He's still out there and he's going to need your help.' Was Connor in danger? Did the Senior Partners know that Connor was part of this latest prophecy? Would they try to get him out of the way?

Faith, on the other hand, was trying to figure out how to break it to Angel that Buffy still didn't know that he had a son, and that he was probably in for a hissy fit when he returned to the hotel. Faith and Willow hadn't been back in Sunnydale five minutes after discovering Connor's existence, when all hell broke loose – literally. With the arrival of Caleb, the First intensifying its assaults on the slayer lineage, and the smack down battle that turned Sunnydale into a crater, telling Buffy that Angel had a love-child to Darla didn't rank high on their to-do lists. After the fighting was over, they were still of that mindset. After all, what Buffy didn't know wouldn't piss her off.

However, now the game plan had changed. Buffy was most likely going to meet Connor, fight along side him even, so she was going to have to be told. And it was only fair that Faith give Angel a heads up on the matter.

'Hey, uh, Angel?'

'What it is, Faith?' Angel glanced over his shoulder at the brunette slayer. 'You hear something?'

'Nope, I just…' Suck it up girl, she thought. 'Okay, here's the deal. Ever wonder why B never called to rip you a new one cuz you had a kid without telling her?'

Angel stopped in his tracks. 'No, it never occurred to me… I just…' The penny dropped. 'She doesn't know, does she?'

'Not so much.'

'I just figured you or Willow would have told her.'

'Hey, Angel. First Evil, psycho ex-Preacher, not to mention a whole mess of frightened, wanna-be slayers. Any of this ringing a bell?'

'You guys chickened out, didn't you?'

'Look who's talking. You couldn't have called her?'

'Damn,' Angel said, starting to walk again. 'I guess I'd better tell her when we get back.'

'I have a feeling Willow will be doing the honours while we're out,' Faith said with a grin. 'You might wanna duck and cover, though, when we get back.'

'He did what!'

'Now, Buffy, let's not overreact,' Willow said, trying to maintain a soothing tone in her voice. Willow had given her friend the abbreviated history of all things Connor, as much as she knew, anyway. Buffy hadn't taken it very well.

'Overreact! You think this is me overreacting! He slept with Darla!'

'Okay, not the sanest decision ever,' Willow replied. 'But, big picture, he didn't lose is soul. Not then, anyway…'

'And I thought vampires couldn't have children!'

Giles cleared his throat. 'As concerned as we all may be about the circumstances surrounding Connor's, uh… appearance, there are most pressing issues at hand. Such as the role he is meant to play in the upcoming battle.'

Buffy looked at her watcher with a mixture of annoyance and affection. 'I thought you'd at least be on my side with the major wiggins here.'

'I assure you Buffy; I'm 'wigging' quite enough about this prophecy. And we really should be getting back to it. I'll sleep a lot easier when we know what is in store for us. Starting with the identity of theremaining soul of good,' Giles told them.

Angel and Faith reached the bottom rung of an iron ladder leading up into the day. Angel looked up, getting his bearings.

'This should lead up to the university campus. Go up and see if you can spot Connor. He usually hangs out at the coffee shop or in the library,' Angel told her.

Faith shrugged. 'Sure thing, Angel. But I don't know if anyone's still in college with all this end of the world stuff going on.'

'Well, it's the one place I usually can find him,' Angel replied. 'This doesn't work; I'll have to wait for dark to track him. And I really don't want to wait that long.'

Faith nodded and started to climb. Angel's voice halted her progress half-way up.

'If he doesn't remember you and doesn't want to come with you, get him to meet me at the coffee shop. There's sewer access there.'

'If he doesn't remember me?' Faith looked back at Angel, totally confused. 'Why wouldn't the runt remember me? I kicked his ass, on more than one occasion. That tends to stick in peoples memories.'

'It was a whole thing with a spell, and memories got wiped…' Angel glazed over the events of the past year. 'He's got his memory back now, but he still might be fuzzy on some points.'

Faith shrugged. 'Whatever. Later.'

Angel settled in to wait for her. He didn't have to wait long. Twenty minutes and the slayer was back, shaking her head.

'Place is a ghost town,' she told him. 'Nothing and nobody up there. Do you want me to see if I can track him for you?'

'No offence, Faith,' Angel replied. 'But you don't exactly have the nose for it. We'll have to wait 'til dark.'

Angel and Faith returned to the hotel to find Giles pacing, with a worried Slayer and Witch looking on.

'What's happened now?' Angel said. 'Have you worked out who the third person is?'

'No, not yet,' Giles replied. 'Dawn and one of the other girls have gone out to look for an open bookstore. I need more research materials, and as all your books are still at Wolfram and Hart…'

'So what is wrong?' Faith asked. 'No offence, Giles, but you're looking wicked jumpy.'

'I've managed to translate another part of the scroll and, it's not good news, I'm afraid.'

'Let me guess,' Angel said. 'Hordes of demons, scouring the earth, apocalyptic battles, yada yada.'

'I must say, you're remarkably calm,' Giles remarked.

'I just went up against all the beasts Wolfram and Hart could raise from hell, and there were only four of us,' Angel remarked.

'Yes, but you lost,' Buffy countered.

Angel paused, and nodded slightly, any hint of bravado gone. 'What are we talking here, Giles? How big?'

'I don't know exactly. The text is vague,' Giles replied. 'But patrols are noting a marked increase in LA's demon population. And, as Willow has already told you, there are portals arriving here several times a day. The forces of darkness are gathering in LA. It is only a matter of time before they strike.'

'So we better start gathering some forces of our own,' Angel replied. 'How many slayers do you have here?'

'Around 40,' Buffy replied. 'They were the ones who were already nearby.'

'My elite group,' Faith interjected. 'I was training them in Nevada when Willow called me.'

'Where are the rest of them?'

'We've got almost 80 in Europe, where I was based,' Buffy replied. 'And another, what? 60 or so in New York State, training with Kennedy. There are more, somewhere. We're still trying to track them all down.'

'How soon can you get them here?' Angel asked. 'Cause, from the sound of things, we don't have much time.'

'Less than 200,' Willow said, worried. 'Against maybe thousands? And we still don't know what exactly is going to happen.'

'We have to try, Will,' Buffy told her friend. 'And just us against maybe thousands are worse odds.'

'I'll call Andrew in Europe,' Giles said. 'And Willow?'

'I'll call Kennedy,' she said with a nod.

Darkness couldn't come quickly enough for Angel. In the remaining daylight hours the one highlight was a reunion with Dawn, whom he noted had grown several more inches since he last saw her, and now towered over Buffy by almost half a foot. She greeted him with enthusiasm, before quizzing him in depth on Spike and the blonde vampire's year in LA. Angel almost couldn't suppress a chuckle. He had to hand it to Spike – he really had a way with the Summers' women.

When night finally arrived, he rushed out to meet it. Faith insisted on coming with, along with half a dozen slayers (just in case, she said). LA had become an even more dangerous place than before and it never hurt to have back-up.

It took less than half an hour for Angel to pick up Connor scent. He was nearby. Picking up the pace, he headed towards what he recognized to be Gunn's old neighborhood. At the thought of his friend, Angel felt his spirits droop further. Faith noticed.

'Hey, big guy? You doin' okay?'

Angel didn't answer straight away, but when he did, his voice was full of sorrow. 'I've lost a lot of people, Faith. When you've been around as long as I have, you come to expect it. But never…'

'Never so many people you cared about in such a short space of time?'

'Yeah.'

Before they could say anything else, they heard something up ahead. A fight. Picking up speed, they rushed forward to see if they could help.

More than a dozen vamps surrounded a van. A blonde haired woman was standing in front of the van's door, attempting to shield twenty or more kids, armed only with a cross. However, between the van and the vamps, stood another figure. Even from a distance, Angel recognized him. Connor.

Faith turned to her slayers. 'Slayers! Attack formation,' she ordered. Like a well-oiled machine, they raised their assorted weapons - stakes, axes and swords - and took up position. 'Attack!' Faith yelled, and her miniature army charged.

The vamps looked at each other, taken aback. They had counted on little resistance during this hunting trip. Twenty or more tasty teenagers to snack on, with only their feisty guardian to stand in their way. Then the kid showed up, and they were fairly certain they could handle him. But now the odds were shifting.

The vamps met Angel and the Slayers head-on, but they didn't stand a chance. The white-hats cut through them with ease, dusting one after another. Angel was impressed with how well trained the new slayers were. But then, he would expect nothing less from Buffy and Faith.

A few of the vamps got wise, and broke away from the battle. But they didn't get very far. At the end of the street they ran into a group of street-fighters, heavily armed and looking for a fight. They got one, all be it a fairly short fight. In minutes, all the vamps were dust in the wind.

Now that the chaos had ended, Connor could see who had come to help him. He couldn't believe his eyes. 'Angel?' he asked, uncertain. 'I looked everywhere for you.'

'I was kinda M.I.A for a while there,' Angel told him. 'Hell dimension.'

'Quor-toth?' Connor asked.

'No, a Wolfram and Hart special,' Angel replied, before clasping his hand on his son's shoulder. 'How are you? What are you doing here?'

'LA was without its champion,' Connor explained. 'I thought I'd better help out. Until you got back. Besides, apparently I'm pretty good at this fighting thing,' he said with a smile.

Faith and some of the slayers were checking on the van of kids. Angel turned and a familiar face caught his eye. 'Anne?'

'Oh my god. Angel?' the blonde woman replied. 'It's been…'

'A while,' Angel replied. 'But Gunn kept me up to date with how the shelter was doing.'

'Where is Charles?' she asked, looking around and not seeing him.

'Yeah, where is my man Gunn?' another voice asked behind them. They turned to see the street-fighters approaching them, weapons lowered, but watching Angel warily.

'Rondell,' Anne greeted the leader of the gang. 'You made it.'

'Sorry we were late, Annie,' he told her. 'There's a lot of demon activity a couple blocks down. Slowed us up. But I see you had help.'

'Yeah. Angel, this is…'

'We've met,' Angel told her before turning to look at Rondell. 'He tried to kill me a couple years back.'

'No hard feelings, vamp,' Rondell said. 'So where is G?'

'He's dead,' Angel said, trying to keep the pain out of his voice. 'A couple of weeks ago.'

'Man,' Rondell said hanging his head. 'How?'

'Big battle. He fought hard,' Angel said. He turned to Anne and Faith. 'You guys need a safe port?' Anne nodded, tears in her eyes at Angel's news. 'Faith, take Anne and her kids back to the hotel. There's plenty of room. You'll be safe there,' he added to Anne.

'What are you going to do?' Faith wanted to know.

'I need to have a talk with Rondell,' Angel told her. 'Me and Connor will meet you back there.'

An hour later, Angel entered the lobby of the Hyperion to find it bustling. Patrols of slayers were arriving back at the hotel, while other groups gathered weapons and left on patrols of their own. Others were using their down time to train. The Scooby-core, however, were in the office, in serious research mode.

As he and Connor approached them, Angel could see Buffy watch Connor warily, looking like she had a lot to say but not saying a word. He wondered how hard she was biting her tongue.

'Did you get Anne settled in?' he asked Faith. The brunette nodded.

'Yeah. So is your buddy Rondell going to help us out?'

'How'd you know…?'

'I know how your mind works,' Faith told him with a smile. 'Having been in it for a while…'

'He's thinking about it,' he told the group. 'He's got about 50 in his crew. Good fighters.

So, how's the research going?' he asked Giles.

'The books Dawn obtained for me have been immensely helpful. I think we are very close to discovering who the final 'soul for good' is.'

Connor looked confused. 'You want to fill me in?' he asked. 'Angel said there was something to do with me in another prophecy.'

'Another prophecy?' Buffy said. 'This happen to you a lot?'

'Once or twice,' Connor replied with a nervous grin.

'The prophecy involves three individuals who are destined to go up against, and hopefully destroy, Wolfram and Hart,' Giles explained. 'The first is the Champion, the vampire with a soul.'

'Angel,' Connor observed.

'Yes, the third is a being called the Destroyer, which Angel believes is you.'

'We'll that's how he's referred to in the other prophecy,' Angel explained. 'So, who's the second being?'

'So far, I've managed to translate the word 'vessel', which also can mean 'messenger' in the ancient Proto-Bantu language.'

'Messenger?' Angel asked, alarm-bells sounding in his mind.

Willow nodded. 'Yeah, Angel. You might want to sit down for this. From what I can get from the Proto-Bantu text, which isn't my first language, so bear with me… it says, the messenger who is both blessed and cursed with the uitstappo – the sight.'

'The visions,' Angel said, everything clicking into place. 'Cordelia.'

'I believe so,' Giles replied. 'And if she's present in a prophecy…'

'She shouldn't be dead,' Angel cut him off. 'But she is, Giles. She died months ago.'

'She died a mystical death, Angel,' Willow told him. The witch glanced sideways at Buffy. Buffy saw her friend's expression and smiled slightly to put her at ease.

'Willow has a certain amount of expertise at bringing people back from mystical deaths,' Buffy said softly.

'I don't have the urn of Osiris anymore, but in the text, there's something called the 'Breath of Isis',' Willow said excitedly.

'Willow? What are you saying?' Angel said, finally sitting down.

'We might be able to bring Cordy back,' she told him.

To Be Continued... Coming Next: Reunions, heart to hearts, battle strategies and lots-a-magic!