Disclaimer: All characters from ANGEL belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. If they aren't on the show they belong to me.

Summary: A different turn of events after Season 1 Episode 12 "Expecting" A/C pairing

CHAPTER 15

The phone in Cordelia's room range. She sat down on the bed with Jessica in her arms, hoping this time a message would be left, but one never was. Her heart sank as she heard her answering machine pick up only to silence on the other end.

She looked down at the child in her arms. Jessica was very still, her dark eyes locked on her mothers. Eyes she had gotten from Angel. The thought of knowing Angel would not be in Jessica's life tore Cordelia apart. She wanted more than anything to give her daughter a family like she had never had. With parents that loved and cared about her, and supported her every move. Cordelia hoped that she would be able to give Jessica all that on her own now.

Angel hung up the phone. He never left a message. He had wanted to, but every time Cordelia's answering machine picked up he felt like she had moved just one step farther from him.

"No answer again?" Darla mocked from her seat in the corner of Angel's room/ She had been tied to the chair for about three days now, ever since she had gone after Cordelia.

"Shut up." Angel said as she turned away from her and began to unbutton his black shirt.

"She'll never love you, you know." Darla ignored what Angel had said. "Cordelia, she can't. Half-demon or not, you're still a vampire. A vampire she can't even have sex with. She'll never want you."

"Shut up, Darla." Angel turned off the lights and climbed into bed. He lay awake for a long time after Darla's comment, thinking. Maybe she was right; maybe there was no way for Cordelia and him.

"Another vision." Cordelia said as she entered the kitchen holding Jessica.

"Great." Wesley said from his spot at the stove.

"I hope you're being sarcastic." Gunn yawned as he poured himself a big cup of coffee. "Because those Powers have been sending Cordelia visions non-stop, and personally, I'm getting kinda sick of it."

"It's down by your old neighborhood." Cordelia told him. "I figured you'd want to know."

Gunn perked up. "No, I do. What is it?"

"A group of demons. Looked like they were trying to perform a ritual or something." Cordelia said as Jess reached up, trying to grab a strand of her mother's short hair.

"Well, then we should probably get going." Wesley said.

Cordelia wrote the address down and handed it to Gunn. "Be careful."

"We will." Gunn nodded and then put a hand on Jessica's head, distracting the child from her mother's hair. "Be good kid."

Jess just giggled and waved her fist in the air at her two Uncles.

Angel sighed as he took a seat at his desk. He was a mess. He didn't know what to do anymore. He had locked Darla upstairs and could hear her cursing him out now. For some reason he still could not bring himself to kill her.

Just then the front door swung open and Lorne entered in a bright yellow suit.

"Anyone here?" The demon called out.

Angel looked up from his desk with a sigh. "Lorne, right?"

"Right you are." Lorne said.

"What do you want?" Angel made his way around the counter and leaned against it with his arms crossed.

"Your help."

"My help?"

"Yeah. You are the champion." Lorne told him. "And I kind of need a champion for this."

"Wrong guy." Angel held up his hands. "I'm not in the business anymore."

"Not in the business?" Lorne was clearly in shock. "I didn't think it was the type of business you could just walk away from."

"Well, I did."

"And the Powers That Be are okay with that?"

"I really don't care what they think." Angel told him.

"Are you going to help me or not?"

Angel sighed. Why shouldn't he help the demon? Lorne had already done so much for him. "Sure, what's the problem?"

"I read a man last night. He thinks his wife is leaving him and I got the idea he was going to do something pretty stupid in the next few hours."

Angel nodded and moved to the weapon cabinet, grabbing a sword. "Let's go."

Angel and Lorne arrived at the house of the man Lorne had read right before sunset. Angel had scrambled up to the front porch with his leather jacket over his head. Once they were in the shade he took it off and looked at the house in front of them.

"This is it?" Angel asked, eyeing the house. It was a cute ranch, well kept, in a beautiful neighborhood. It was the kind of house he imagined he and Cordelia would raise Jessica in, if he hadn't thrown her out. He sighed at the thought. He truly missed them both.

"This is it." Lorne told him as he knocked on the door.

A minute later the door swung open and a large man with bright green eyes was standing there. "What do you want?" The man asked.

Lorne stuck his hand out. "Remember me Mr..."

"Jones. Bob Jones." The man said, not taking Lorne's hand. "And yeah, I remember you. What the hell are you doing here?"

"Is you're wife home, Mr. Jones?" Lorne asked, ignoring the man's questions.

"No. She will be. Probably in a few minutes." Mr. Jones crossed his arms. "Why?"

"We'd like to talk to you." Angel chimed in. "It will only take a few minutes."

Mr. Jones thought for a moment and then nodded, letting Angel and Lorne into the house.

"So, what's this about?" Mr. Jones turned to Angel and Lorne.

Before Angel knew what he was doing he had Mr. Jones pinned up against the wall. "What are you going to do to your wife?" He asked.

"Let go of me!" Mr. Jones huffed and felt the pain as Angel twisted his arm. "Nothing...nothing! I wasn't going to do anything!"

"Angel, let him go!" Lorne said.

Angel pulled Mr. Jones off the wall and threw him to the couch. "I don't believe you were going to do nothing."

Mr. Jones looked at the floor. "She's leaving me. She's taking my kids and she's leaving me..." He looked up at Angel. "I won't let her."

"It's her choice." Angel told him. "You can't control it."

Mr. Jones buried his head in his hands and began to cry. "Things haven't been great between us, but I never thought she'd leave. I...I can't..."

Lorne comforted the crying man. "Try and work things out. I read it off of you. If you don't do what you were planning on tonight, there is a chance for you two."

"Really?" Mr. Jones looked up.

Lorne nodded. "Really."

Mr. Jones smiled and thanked Lorne before showing the vampire and demon out the door.

"Nice job in there." Lorne said sarcastically.

"He was going to hurt his wife and kids. I wasn't going to let that happen." Angel told him.

"Oh, but you hurting yours is okay?" Lorne asked.

"Cordelia's not my wife." Angel looked down. "And how did you know-"

"Your aura was screaming it." He told Angel. "Try and talk to her. It might be the best thing for you."

Angel nodded. "Thanks."

Cordelia was laying on the floor playing with Jessica when there was a knock on her door. She sighed. "Not again..." She picked up her daughter and went to the door, preparing herself for another face off with Darla. She opened the door and took a step back at the person standing there.

"Can I come in?" Angel asked, sheepishly.

Cordelia nodded, but said nothing. She moved aside to let Angel in and closed the door behind him.

"Looks good..." Angel looked around the apartment.

"Thanks." Cordelia said coldly as she cradled Jessica closer to her chest.

Angel turned to Cordelia and reached out a hand to touch Jessica. "How is she?"

Cordelia pulled the child out of Angel's reach. "What do you want?"

"To see you." He motioned to both her and Jessica. "To see her."

"Well, here we are." Cordelia said. Queen C was raising in her.

"I wanted to talk..." Angel shoved his hands into his pockets.

"About what? Leaving us?" Cordelia said more as a statement then a question. "Well, you made it perfectly clear, Angel. You don't care about me or Jess anymore. You never did, so do us a favor and just stay away."

"Cordy, I-"

"And don't ever call me Cordy, again! It's Cordelia Chase, to you now." The former May Queen spat.

Angel nodded and made his way out of her apartment silently.

When Cordelia heard the door close she sank to the ground, clenching Jessica close to her. Tears formed in her eyes and she could not control them. Why was he doing this to her? He told her it was over, so why did Angel keep coming back? Cordelia looked down at her daughter. Their daughter, she corrected herself. So why wasn't Angel in Jessica's life?

Angel called her. He had run out of options, and she was truly a last resort. She was angry, and he could tell by her tone of voice on the phone, but she had agreed to meet him at their famous meeting spot, a cemetery in Sunnydale. He sat on the hood of his car waiting for her, then her familiar scent filled the air. He looked up to see his ex walking toward him.

"Buffy..." He started.

She nodded. "You sounded pretty desperate on the phone. What's up?" She asked coldly.

"I needed to talk to someone. You were the only person I could think of..."

"What about Cordy?" She snapped.

Angel sighed. Maybe visiting Buffy hadn't been a bad idea. "It's about her. And my daughter."

Buffy rolled her eyes, but could see the hurt in Angel's face. She decided that at that point she was just going to have to give him a break. He really did need a friend. "What is it?" She asked as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I was trying to protect them..."Angel started.

"From what?"

"Darla. She came back."

"She what?" Buffy asked.

"Long story, but she's back. She was going to go after them. I had to keep them safe." Angel starred blankly ahead.

Buffy nodded. "What did you do?"

Angel turned to her. "I threw them out. Cordy, Jess, Gunn, Wesley...I threw them out. I told Cordy I didn't love her or Jessica and I threw them out."

"You what!" Buffy was taken back.

"I had to protect them."

"By throwing them out?" Buffy was never really friends with Cordelia, but now she felt bad for her. "Well, that was smart."

"Cordelia's mad at me." Angel told her.

"I wonder why…" Buffy snorted.

"What do I do?" Angel asked.

Buffy shook her head. "You messed up pretty big here. Cordelia's probably alone and scared and you left her like that. No in fact, you made her like that." Buffy stood.

"Where are you going?" Angel asked.

"Patrolling. I feel sorry for Cordelia, and whatever crap you get over this, you deserve." And with that Buffy walked away.

Angel threw his jacket down on his bed with a temper that even startled Darla from her corner in his room. He had tried to see Cordelia, tried to fix it, and all her got was a good slap in the face. Not literally, but he was pretty sure that if she hadn't been holding Jess then she would have given him a few across the face. Then, he had gone to Buffy for help. The one person he thought he could always count on and she had turned him away too. He couldn't believe it.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Darla asked, clearly not interested in the fact that Angel was hurting.

Angel lunged at her. Instead of wiping out a stake like she had suspected, he kissed her. He then ripped the ropes that held her to the chair and threw her onto the bed. Springing on top of her he kissed her again.

Darla smiled up at Angel. "There's my sweet, Angelus." He kissed her again and she began ripping off his shirt. "I knew you would come back to me. Humans don't understand. She would never understand you like I do, Angelus."

She was right about the Angelus part. Angel was sick of his life. Sick of what was happening. He wanted to lose himself to the darkness. Become what he once was, a heartless killer. He didn't want to have to face the world every single day knowing the mistakes he had made. He didn't want to face it without Cordelia or Jessica. Angel gave in to the darkness as he undressed Darla.