Part 5
Sunnydale 1998
"Uhmm... " Fred begun to talk but she was unsure on how continue, he "hi I'm Fred" she continue talking while walking towards Cordelia and Angel, "you weren't here when we came, and while I know both of you already you don't know us, as I said I'm Fred, he's Wesley and he's Gunn" she said pointing each of them, "and you already know each other so…"
"Fred honey you have to breath" Cordy said to the young woman and she smiled at her friend knowing how hard it was for her to talk in front of strangers.
"uhm… I … Cordelia you were saying something when you came" Fred told the younger version of her best friend.
"Oh God, it's true, we're ambushed and the knocked me out while Angel was fighting and they took the baby and Angel staked the leader so now we don't know where they went, and the baby is alone, and he could be hungry or need a clean diaper and…" Cordelia rambled as the tears started to fall again, she couldn't seem to help herself and now that she knew that it was her child.
"Cordelia, relax" Angel said thinking how young she was. "What happened to Connor?" He asked her gently trying not to worry her anymore.
"Connor?" Past Angel asked he was trying to absorb everything that happened in one single moment he had things in the future that he never believed could happen.
"My son…your son…this is confusing…He's name is Connor, he's 2 and half months old, he's one of the best thing I have in my life" Angel said sadly, he wanted nothing more than his baby. Cordy took hold of Angel's arm and looked up at him, her eyes glistened with tears but she smiled on of the sweetest smiles he had ever seen and returned on back to her.
"I like the name" Young Cordelia said trying not to make Angel more sad she had only just met the little baby but she was drawn to him, she already cared and loved him how much worse would it be after 2 and half months.
"Yeah it is" Angel said smiling at the teenager wondering why he never tried to know her in Sunnydale. He noticed how beautiful she was, but he had been blinded by Buffy but in his eyes she was even more stunning now, there was a light that shined within, Cordy no longer had to hide the fact that she was a good person who cared about others and he loved her more and more everyday.
"What I don't understand is, you did a spell to get rid of a future danger and you got Connor, care to explain Giles?" Cordy asked, she was hurting, she wanted her baby boy in her arms and she was angry why would they do this? What possible explanation could there be.
"Why don't you sit and I'll explain everything" Giles offered all of them.
The LA Gang sat down together, while Angel and Cordelia tried to understand what was happening and Buffy went to sit next to her Angel as she thought of him still trying to work out why in the future he was with Cordelia and not her. That was the one thing she could not get her head around, it was Cordelia the may queen of all people. What would the two of them have in common.
"I found a prophecy that talked about a warrior and his seer and what they called the Tro-Clan or The Destroyer, as you can see it's an abomination, a threat to the future so we did the spell to destroy to danger" Giles said feeling cleaver as he was who found the prophecy. "I still haven't translated the whole prophecy but I'm working on it"
The LA Gang couldn't believe that a watcher had made that big error, acting without really thinking, without translating the whole prophecy.
Cordy was livid "And WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING!" She stalked towards Giles, Angel tried to stop her but she dodged him "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? ANSWER ME BEFORE I KICK YOUR ASS BACK TO THE WATCHER'S ACADEMY" She all but yelled at him her eyes were alight with anger, she could not believe the stupidity of him, the danger that he had put her child into without getting all the facts first.
"Cordelia…" Giles begun to talk.
"WHAT! YOU ALMOST KILLED AN INNOCENT BABY BOY BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T READ THE WHOLE PROPHECY, YES HE'S THE DESTROYER, BUT NOT OF MANKIND BUT OF ALL DANGER TOWARDS MANKIND, YOU ALMOST KILLED MY BABY" She yelled at him while crying the tears fell like a waterfall, the anger and the fear coming out in every single tear.
"Cordelia baby, you have to let it go" Angel told her hugging her to him. Seeing Cordelia crying was a thing he hated. "Giles, you and me need to talk and we'll do tomorrow, we need to plan, we have to look for Connor, Angel" he called himself which was odd but in his long life and especially the one in LA he managed to take things as they came.
"Yes" He's counterpart said looking suddenly at his twin his eyes had been on the other Cordelia and her outrage towards the watcher.
"Are you living in the apartment at the back of town? "He asked just wanting confirmation.
"Yes, why?" The past Angel asked.
"It's nothing, I'm going to the Crawford Manor, if you guys want to help come with us, we're going now"
"Uhm… can I go too?" Cordelia asked shyly. "I want to find him, it's was my fault" she said sadly afraid that all those from the future would blame her as she did herself.
"It wasn't your fault, you two were ambushed, but feel free to come with us, it'll be a great help. The more the merrier and we could use some extra hands if we need any researching done" Cordelia told herself thinking it was strange and she thought about all the good and bad things that lay in this high school girls life but it was worth every heartache. every bit of that pain.
Buffy grabbed hold of her Angel's hand and smiled a sweet sickly smile at everyone.
"Well Angel, MY Angel." She made she that she emphasised MY, "and I are going patrolling we'll see if we can pick up any information while we are out there. Without waiting for a reply she dragged the vampire with her and as soon as the library door closed Gunn burst out laughing Wes and Fred joined in. Cordy was looking at him smirking and he scowled at them all.
"Angel man you are so whipped." Gunn said still laughing that was definitely not the Angel he knew.
"Hey." Angel said pouting a little and trying to look hurt.
"At least with Cordy you pretend to at least to argue, while trying to get a glimpse down her top." Wes said joining in with Gunn.
Fred continued to giggle, the rest of the Scoobies stopped and stared it wasn't long before Angel and Cordy were laughing as well.
It was just the release they needed, they needed to still feel like a family and they did. "Let's go to the mansion." Angel said he turned to the others. "You are welcome to come and help if you want to." The LA gang plus the high school Cordelia walked out of the library not even looking back to see if anyone else was following them it didn't bother them whether they were or not.
Later…
Angel and Cordelia were in the back of the mansion, they're sitting on a bench talking.
"Angel what are we going to do?" Cordelia asked worriedly.
"First of all baby you need to relax, you need to be able to think clearly" Angel told her hugging her. "We have lots of good people on our side, we're going to have Connor back in no time" He said thinking about how Buffy and his twin came earlier to help, they were still inside talking with Wesley about a plan.
"You know I found Buffy's face very funny when they came here" Cordy was thinking the same as him.
"You know what? That's true, I thought that vein in her forehead was going to explode, it looked like it was doing the cha-cha" someone said coming towards them.
"Hey Cordelia…man this is getting confusing…I'm talking with myself!" Cordy told them it was definitely not something that she thought would ever happen.
"Cordelia we want you to thank you for helping us" Angel said looking at the younger version of the woman he loved dearly.
"What can I do? I was with him a day and already loved him" She said remembering his chubby face, "I just hope we find him soon, he could be cold, or hungry or wet or…"
"You already think as a mom." Angel said smiling at her.
"You should do that more" Cordelia said as she watched his whole face transform.
"Now where have I heard that before?" Angel said joking.
"Hey, it's true, you're gorgeous everyday but when you smile you are even more," she paused for a moment. "Breathtaking." Cordy finished lovingly.
"Uhm.. I hope I'm not intruding anything but you need to come back inside" Willow said joining the three the red head was a bit nervous about interrupting them, two these people she recognised but no longer knew.
With that Angel and the twins got up and went inside.
"We're here" Cordy said, "What happened?"
"Right, I think I found a way to locate Connor as soon as possible" Wesley said as the boss he was. It had taken him a little while but now he was better at taking control of the situation "We're going to make two teams and patrol around the town"
"Who is in each tem?" Cordelia asked, she
wanted to go with someone from LA, she wasn't comfortable with
Xander and Willow because of the betrayal and Buffy was looking at
her angrily. It wasn't her fault that her older self and Angel were
in love and had a child and she had a family the teen looked at the
LA gang and noticed how close they were and earlier she had seen how
they laughed and joked, she smiled softly she couldn't wait for the
future.
"The teams are, first: Buffy and Xander will go with
Gunn, Fred and myself to the east part of the town moving to north,
and the second team: Angel and Cordy will go with Angel, Cordelia and
Willow"
"What will Giles be doing?" Cordy asked.
"He'll be translating the prophecy" Wesley stated.
"Uhmm… Wes don't we already…"
"Don't Cordelia, he needs to know what he almost did" He said angry with his fellow watcher. It was a hard lesson that Wesley had to learn and he had learnt from it now it was Giles time to look at what he did and what the consequences could be? If anything happened to Connor, Wesley didn't know what any of them would do especially Angel and Cordy.
Buffy glared at Wesley. "You are not my watcher, you can't tell me what to do I am the slayer and this is my town. People follow me not you." She spat out angrily.
Wesley couldn't help but smile, he was not her watcher yet but he would be, not a very good one mind you but still. The ex-watcher forgot what it was to like to be around teenagers.
Future Angel stepped forward. "Buffy get over yourself. We are older and currently have more experience then you do at this age. I'm a 250 year old vampire with a soul who has a child because of a prophecy and a champion for the PTB, Wesley is an ex-watcher and a rogue demon hunter." Buffy's face fell as she heard Wesley being called a watcher. "Gunn is from the streets and has been fighting vampires longer than you have, Fred here is a great physicist and has lived 5 years in a hell dimension and Cordy she grew up on the hellmouth and also a seer. None of us know what normal is but in LA we work as a team. We come up with a plan what ever the best plan is. For some of us it takes a sledgehammer for us to see but we do eventually." Angel laughed.
Buffy's eyes grew even more, angry that was the most Angel had ever said, but you could see how he looked at each one of his team-mates how much he cared but his gaze stayed on Cordelia a bit longer.
Giles had sat in the corner his mind going over and over what had happened. He might have caused the death of a young baby, his mind screamed at him and not only that but it might be the child that brings the end of demons. He took his glasses of and rubbed the bridge of his nose. What had he done?
Cordy looked over and saw Giles, she was still very angry but she knew that this man did what he thought was right and they needed all of him now, they needed him to concentrate.
"Giles?" She whispered as she knelt in front of him. "I know you are sorry and that if you could take it back you would but what we need is for you to concentrate and decipher the rest of the prophecy we need to know it all."
The watcher looked up and stared into her hazel eyes, he was amazed at how she had changed. She was still a young woman with so much responsibility she managed to do it with grace and style. He hoped that Buffy would grow up to be like this. Giles smiled softly at her and promised himself that he would do everything he could to get Connor back to his family.
Past Angel looked around he still had a few questions. "Who are the PTB? I uhhh you are the champion and Cordelia is your seer? I don't understand?"
The future Angel grinned. "I know it is a lot to take in the PTB is what Cordy calls them when she is not angry are The Powers That Be, they send uhh messages through Cordy and she lets me know when people are in trouble we go save them and we save souls and earn my redemption along the way and a seer well I should let Cordy explain that."
Cordy stood up from where she had knelt with a quick grin to the other she opened her mouth but no words came out, she screamed and clutched her head. As she fell backwards Angel was there holding her in his arms as she screamed and convulsed, tears rolled out of her eyes. The images flashing through her mind, the loneliness of Connor she could feel her little baby's terror, she could see the vampires laughing and enjoying the child's scared tears. There was a flash of teeth, pain and lots of blood. Gunn grabbed some water while Fred went to get her painkillers and then the two of them and Wesley knelt next to Cordy all of their faces were covered in concern and worry. They hated when this happened to her but even more so at the moment what if this was about Connor.
Slowly her body stopped shaking and she opened her eyes and stared into the ones of the man she loved.
"He was so scared." She said crying.
Angel pulled her tightly against him wishing that he could protect her from all of this pain. "We'll get him back." He whispered hoarsely.
Xander looked down at the future version of his ex-girlfriend. "So that was a vision."
"Cordy what did you see?" Wesley asked softly he hated to do this but they needed to know.
She looked up and gave him a sad watery smile. "All I saw was a cemetery, lots of vampires, blood and fangs." Cordy looked up at the ceiling and glared. "Damn you the one time I actually wanted a vision you gave me that Sunnyhell is full of cemeteries that is not a lot of help." She screamed.
All the Scoobies plus the past Angel all looked up to see who or what she was shouting at.
"The PTB." Gunn and Fred said together.
"Look we have to go ok teams hit every cemetery on your section. Let's go." Wesley ordered.
TBC
