Author's Note: Again, I am sorry about the delay. Crazy times, people, crazy times. Things will get easier when they invent the 27 hour day...

Thanks again to all who've posted reviews. It means a lot that you're all still reading and that you're enjoying the story. It's actually finally dawning on me just how long this story's probably going to be - the real action hasn't even started yet. So I packed as much forward momentum into this chapter as possible and avoided prophecies for the time being. This one's all about getting people where I need them to be, so I can finally get to the meat of the story. The really tricky part is, there are so many characters floating around, and i feel obligated to give everyone their moment... I might have to kill some of them off (forensicsgirl snickers evily) - Just kidding...

Quick shout out to Xephon who posted anonymously after the last chapter - yep, I haven't forgotten about Angel's stint in hell after Buffy tVS season 2. But since no one knows how long he was there for, and since Joss Whedon and the rest of the BtVS and AtS writers don't include that time when calculating Angel's age, I decided it was irrelevant. As far as I'm concerned, Angel's 251 at the time this story's set - or 277 (if you want to count the fact that he was 26 when he was turned...)

Hope you enjoy the chapter. Looking forward to your reviews...

CHAPTER TEN: THE DEEP BREATH...

'Lorne!' Angel exclaimed, both pleased and surprised by his friend's sudden appearance. 'I…'

'What? You're surprised to see me?' Lorne suggested. 'You're glad I'm in one piece? You thought I'd left town?'

'Well, last time I saw you…' Angel hesitated, remembering the task he had charged Lorne with on that occasion. 'You mentioned that I wouldn't see you again.'

'Believe me, I tried to leave town. But the midnight train to Georgia got cancelled due to a little thing I like to call the Apocalypse,' the demon replied, more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice. 'So I've been here, helping out as best I can.'

'Lorne, I…'

'Save it, Angel face,' Lorne told him firmly. 'What you asked me to do was… unforgivable. But, I was the one who chose to do it. And right now we don't have time for tears and recriminations. These people need help.'

'Why were you being attacked?' Buffy wanted to know.

'We refused to yield to Wolfram and Hart,' Rieff replied. 'We're balancing demons; we won't join forces with evil. So they decided to destroy us before we could stand against them.'

'We've been hiding out, keeping a low profile,' Lorne continued. 'We've been okay for a couple of weeks now, had the Transuding Furies cast a Sanctorium spell on the building…'

'Well, you'd better call the Furies; get them to work the spell again, cuz the demons will be back…' Angel started.

'You don't understand, Angel-cakes,' Lorne interrupted him. 'The spell no longer works because the Furies are dead.'

'Angel,' Faith stepped forward to Angel's side. 'We need to get back to the hotel. It's almost dawn.'

'Right,' Angel said, still considering the problem. 'Let's get everyone back to the hotel. There are more than enough Slayers there to help protect…'

'We don't need to be protected,' a Brachen Demon told Angel determinedly. 'We can fight. We plan to fight the darkness.'

Angel nodded. 'Good. Cuz we need all the help we can get. Consider yourselves conscripted.'

By the time the unlikely group of Slayers and Demons arrived back at the hotel, the first rays of dawn threatened on the horizon. The lobby seemed more crowded than usual, and the arrival of around a hundred demons certainly wasn't going to help matters.

Giles looked up from the book he was reading and shot the new arrivals a questioning look.

'More house guests,' Buffy informed him.

'Ah. Right,' Giles replied, his forehead creasing as he wondered where they would put everyone. 'Several more squads of Slayers arrived in your absence. And Andrew checked in. His group is the last to arrive, and they will be here in a few hours.'

'Good,' Buffy replied with a tired smile. It had been a long night.

Angel and Faith approached the counter. 'We need to find a way to secure the hotel,' Angel said. 'There are women, children who need protection here. Not to mention, when the battle starts, we need somewhere safe to bring the wounded.'

'Willow's been working on something,' Giles told them, indicating the flame-haired witch who sat in the office behind him. She was grinding powder with a pestle and mortar.

'Hi guys,' she greeted them. 'I'm re-jigging the early warning spell I put on the house and the magic shop, back when all we had to worry about was an all-powerful hell-god. I'll have it up and running within the hour. Between that, and Faith's round-the-clock sentries standing guard, we should have plenty of warning if the bad guys decide to attack the hotel again.'

'That's great, Will,' Buffy told her. 'But we could really use a protection spell thrown in for good measure.'

'Funny you should mention that,' Willow smiled. 'Dawn's been doing some research and there are three Transuding Furies here in town that…'

'The Furies are dead,' Angel told her, effectively wiping the smile off Willow's face.

'Oh…' the witch faltered. 'Damn.'

'You're super witch, Will,' Faith told her. 'Can't you whip something up?'

Looking somewhat flattered at being referred to as 'super witch', Willow nonetheless shook her head at the request. 'Creating and maintaining a protection spell powerful enough to keep out all the demons that might come at us… it would take concentrated energy. The Furies are… were otherworldly. They had energy to spare. But if I created the same spell…'

'She wouldn't be able to do anything else,' Giles finished the statement. 'All Willow's energy would be tied up in the Sanctorium spell, and she would have nothing left to give, should we need any sort of magical aid.'

'Oh,' Faith replied, slightly deflated.

'We'll need Willow in battle,' Angel stated. 'We can't have all her energy tied up here. We need to find another way.'

'Well, there is… kinda,' Willow started hesitantly. 'I could probably protect… a room, maybe. Without having to concentrate too much, I mean. I don't know how much help that would be…'

'No, that'll help a lot…' Angel thought for a moment. 'The ballroom.'

'That big old dusty room with a huge hole in the floor?' Buffy replied skeptically. 'We all get to live there?'

'We could move the vulnerable in there, and make it the infirmary,' Angel replied. It's in the centre of the hotel, isolated from attack. It's perfect…' Off Buffy's look, he went on, 'we could fix the hole…'

Buffy shrugged. Willow picked up the spell ingredients and got to her feet. 'Okay, then. I'll get the early warning spell up and running, then I'll get to the Ballroom.'

'Right. Time to mobilize.'

Angel turned to the rest of the assembly. He noticed that the room seemed to have divided, Slayers eyeing the newly arrived demons warily, and the demons looking more than a little uncomfortable with the scrutiny.

'I know things are a little… crazy at the moment,' Angel began, raising his voice to be heard above the murmuring that was going on. At his words, the mumbling stopped, and two hundred eyes were on him. He shifted nervously, not accustomed to having to speechify to more than a handful of team members. 'We're disorganized. That needs to change. We need to be ready for this battle, whenever it may come. And we need to be united. The Listers, Kwainis, Brachens and Anomovics are our allies. They stand against Wolfram and Hart every bit as much as we do.'

One of the nearby Slayers, who looked more than a little intimidated at the presence of so many demons, shuffled towards Buffy and Faith. 'But, they're demons…' she said in a quite, conspiratorial voice.

Faith recognized her as Sheila, one of their most recent conscripts. They had only found her a few weeks before, a fourteen-year-old orphan whose entire family had been wiped out by vampires.

'The world's Technicolor, kid,' Faith told her. 'Not black and white. Trust me, these are the good guys.'

Angel had expected some resistance and uncertainty from some of the Slayers. However he trusted Buffy and Faith to set the example the younger girls would fall into step with.

'Faith, what time does your watch change shift?' Angel asked, referring to the ten slayers which Faith had positioned around the hotel at any one time.

'Anytime now.'

'Whoever's not on watch or catching up on sleep needs to help out with the sleeping arrangements round here,' Angel instructed. 'There are beds, mattresses that we can move from the abandoned parts of the hotel into the Ballroom.'

'Kennedy,' Faith called her next in command. 'Send the next watch out, then appoint teams to get the Ballroom habitable. But make sure everyone's had enough sleep. The girls need to rest while they can.'

Kennedy nodded and turned to the rest of the girls and started barking orders like a drill sergeant.

'I might be able to lighten the load, Angel,' Anne said, approaching him. 'This place is getting a little crowded. Time for me and my kids to move on.'

'It's a hotel, Anne,' Angel told her. 'There's plenty of room.'

'Some of my kids are barely into their teens,' Anne told him. 'I want to get them out of this city. It's too dangerous. I have a friend; she's willing to take us in. If we leave now, we'll make it by dark.'

'You're sure?'

'Yeah,' Anne smiled at the vampire. 'Thank you. For everything.'

'Take care, Anne,' he told her.

'Listen, we have bedding, cots, over at the shelter. Use what you need.'

Angel smiled a thank you, and she left to gather her kids.

'Xander?' Buffy called her friend, who immediately appeared at her side. 'Think you could put those carpentry skills of yours to good use, and patch up the floor in the Ballroom?'

'Sure thing, Buff,' he replied.

'Then we need to find some kind of transport to get the stuff from Anne's shelter,' Angel added.

'You could probably score a lift with your buddy Rondell,' Xander suggested.

'He's here?' Angel asked.

'Yep. Out in the garden training with some of his crew.'

The foyer was a bustle of activity as Angel made his way outside to the porch overlooking the garden.

'Rondell,' he greeted the street fighter. 'Glad you decided to join us.'

Rondell dodged an attack from one of his crew, and used the attacker's weight and speed to his advantage, overbalancing him, and landing the young man flat on his back.

'Never lose you balance,' he tutored him. 'You lose it, game over.'

Rondell straightened up and faced Angel. 'Hey, vampire. Why don't you come out here in the morning sunshine and we'll talk some strategy.' He chuckled as Angel looked towards the blue sky, and then back at Rondell with a frown.

'This everyone?' Angel asked. In all, there were only a dozen men.

'Nah,' Rondell shock his head and climbed the steps to where Angel stood. 'The rest'll be along. I got them gathering weapons.'

'Good. Listen we've got some new allies, and I need to know you're not going to start anything.'

Rondell shot the vampire a look. 'Now didn't we have ourselves an agreement? Where's the trust, man? I got no beef with the Slayer newbies…'

'Not them,' Angel told him.

'Well, unless you expect me to fight alongside a whole mess of demons, we won't have a problem.'

Angel made a face. 'Well…'

Cordelia descended the stairs to the lobby, taking a deep breath before she reached the bottom. So many people. So much noise… Steeling herself against another freak-out, she walked across the room to the office, where she ran headlong into a familiar demon.

'Lorne!' she exclaimed, rushing forward to hug him. Lorne, however, backed up and warded her off with his hands.

'Who the… what the…' he looked at her closely. 'Cordy? Is that you?'

'Of course it's me, you big dope,' she told him.

'Are you sure, cuz last time we thought it was you, you kinda tried to kill me…'

Rolling her eyes and taking a deep breath, Cordy embraced the inevitable.

'Somewhere over the rainbow… Blue birds fly…' she sang.

Lorne's eyes widened, a smile crept to his face. 'Cordy!' He quickly pulled her into an embrace. 'Oh, sweetness, it's good to have you back.'

He pulled away then, and his expression had changed. Concern mottled the look of happiness he wore. 'Oh, girl. Are you ever in need of a shoulder… Or a sea breeze - whatever's closest.'

'What? What's wrong?' Cordy's frowned in worry and confusion.

'You're carrying a hell of a weight, Princess,' Lorne told her. 'If you don't unburden yourself soon, it'll crush you.'

Connor was sitting outside on the front steps of the hotel when Cordy found him. He had wandered out there to get away from the din of too many girls crowded into a small space. Now he found himself staring into space and thinking of his parents.

He had made them leave town the morning after he helped Angel fight Hamilton. He sensed the evil that was coming and he wanted his parents as far away as possible from it. Even though they lived in the suburbs, well out of the city, he still feared the battle might spread there. His mom's sister had a house in Montana. He had convinced them to go there, said he would follow as soon as he could.

'Connor, we're not leaving you!' his mother had told him, he jaw set as she clung to her son's hand.

'Mom, please. I swear I'll come and find you when it's over,' he had told her. 'I need to find Angel. He needs my help.'

His mother continued to shake her head, tears threatening in her clear blue eyes, so he had looked to his Father for help. 'Dad. Please. Get mom and the rest of the family to safety. I promise, I'll be okay.'

It had been a battle in itself, but eventually they had agreed. They didn't understand what their son was, or what he was capable of. But they knew in their hearts that he would keep his word to them.

As Cordelia watched him sitting there, she closed her eyes and wished for the thousandth time that she could take it all back. That all the pain and hurt that Connor had been put through had never happened, and he was still just a baby, being raised in a happy home with her and Angel and the rest of the AI gang. She opened her eyes and faced reality. No amount of wishing would ever change the past.

'Connor?' she said, trepidation shaking her voice.

He didn't turn around. He had sensed her presence for a few minutes now, but had said nothing, waiting for her to speak when she was ready. He didn't fully understand what had happened between them, but he knew that it hadn't been Cordelia's fault. He also knew that she didn't believe that.

'Hey,' he greeted her. 'Finally decided to talk to me, have you?'

'I…' she took another step forward. 'I'm sorry. I just… It's difficult.'

'I know. I'm sorry.'

'What are you sorry for?' she asked him, coming to sit on the low wall near the steps. 'You've done nothing wrong.'

'No… except try to kill Angel, You, myself, a whole mess of people at the mall…'

'That wasn't your fault!' she told him, her voice rising.

'It wasn't yours either, Cordelia,' he told her, giving her his eyes finally. 'I know what you think. You blame yourself for what happened last year. You shouldn't.'

'How can you say that?' she asked, tears overrunning her eyes. 'How can you forgive me?'

'You have to stop blaming yourself, Cordy. No one else does. You shouldn't.'

'He's right.'

Cordy and Connor turned to see Angel standing in the doorway behind them. 'Cordy, you have to let it go. It'll only tear you apart otherwise…'

She wanted nothing more to believe him. To be forgiven. To forgive herself. And here were the two people she had hurt more than anyone in the world, and they forgave her.

She went to Angel then, allowing him to wrap her in his arms. Over the top of her head, Angel smiled at his son.

'Thanks, Connor.'

Connor smiled back and got to his feet and moved past them, into the hotel. 'I'll go see if anyone needs some help,' he told them. As he moved out of earshot, he muttered to himself, 'She was too old for me, anyway…'

By mid-afternoon the hotel was much more organized. The Ballroom had been repaired and transformed into a dormitory, complete with protection spell. Rondell and some of his crew members had taken the trucks over to Anne's shelter and returned laden down with bedding, mattresses and first aid kits. After Xander had demonstrated his skills as a carpenter, he had taken Dawn and gone on a food run. He was fairly certain he had maxed out Giles' credit card, but he had brought home enough food to feed an army.

And an army they were, poised and ready. All that remained was to know the hour of battle.

It had taken a lot of persuasion on Angel's part to keep Rondell and his crew on their side. Faced with the prospect of fighting along side demons, Rondell had been more than ready to walk. However, his desire to bring down the ultimate evil of Wolfram and Hart had overshadowed his dislike for all demons, and he agreed to play nice. Angel just hoped he stayed true to his word…

Around 3:30pm, Andrew arrived with the final group of Slayers.

'Fear not, one and all, I'm here now,' he had announced in his geeky, self-important way. 'The board is set, the pieces are moving. The battle for Middle Earth is about to begin.'

At that, Angel rolled his eyes and escaped to the basement.

Cordy was already waiting for him.

'What do you say, big guy?' she asked playfully. 'Think you can take me?'

Angel smiled. She had cried herself out in his arms this morning and now she was approaching her old self again. He hoped that she had finally started to forgive herself and could now start moving on.

But for right now, there was training to be done.

'You sure you're ready for this?' he asked her, afraid to push her too far too fast.

'Angel, it's not like we have time to spare here,' she told him, picking up her sword. 'This all could go down at any minute, and I need to know that I'm not rusty.'

He sighed and nodded. He would have given anything to be able to keep her out of this battle. To keep her safe. But the fates had taken the decision out of his hands.

'Well, I seem to recall a certain ex-cheerleader claiming that she never had to be shown a move twice,' he teased her lightly. 'Let's put that to the test, shall we?'

Cordelia sighed. 'God, that was a long time ago…'

'Too long?'

She flashed him the patented Cordelia Chase smile. 'What do you think?'

She swung the blade, and only his vampire speed and agility allowed him to raise his own sword up in time to block the blow. She swung her own sword around, over her head, athletically sending a kick his way before bring the blade back around. Angel couldn't help but be impressed. She had remembered every move he had ever taught her, but the way she executed them was pure Cordy. Fluid, efficient, more like a dance step than a fighting style.

After ten minutes, he decided that her attack was still in great shape. He was suggesting they work on defense when the first image hit her. Relentless, vivid, the visions might not be killing her anymore, but that didn't mean they weren't intense.

Thousands of demons, vampires, hell beasts, their own forces fighting for their lives. She could feel the pain, smell the blood, hear the screams. Then she saw herself, utterly alone in a dark room.

A sob welled up in her throat, and she opened her eyes to find herself in Angel's arms.

'I thought the visions were supposed to be painless now,' he asked, not bothering to hide his concern. He carefully guided her over to a nearby chair and helped her sit down.

'The vision itself didn't hurt,' she told him, still trying to focus her eyes. 'It was what was in the vision that did the damage.'

'You saw the battle.' It wasn't a question. Angel saw it in her eyes.

She nodded. She closed her eyes against the onslaught of lingering images. The death. The fear. The uncertainty. Where was the room in her vision? There was something familiar about the place… Why had she been all alone? She had a feeling there was more but…

'When?'

She looked at him, unable to hide the terror building in her eyes. 'Tonight.'

To Be Continued... Phew, that was a tough chapter for me. Hope it goes down alright with the masses - please let me know. FYI, the chapter title refers to Gandalf's comment to Pippin in LOTR Return of the King. I can be as big a geek as Andrew sometimes... :-)