Disclaimer: All characters and things from ANGEL and BUFFY 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 23

Angel and Cordelia awoke in Cordelia's room to the smell of pancakes coming from downstairs.

Cordelia rolled over and smiled at Angel. "I like having Fred around. It means I'm not the only one who has to cook."

Angel smiled back at her. "Come on." He got out of bed and grabbed Jessica, who was wide-awake, from her crib. He was glad that his daughter, even at five months, knew not to wake up mommy and daddy when they were sleeping.

Cordelia climbed out of bed and joined Angel on the walk downstairs. They entered the lobby to find Gunn and Wesley over a stake of pancakes each, and Fred behind the counter making more.

"You're back!" Fred smiled up, giddily at Angel.

"We are." Angel nodded as Cordelia took Jessica from him.

"When did you get in?" Gunn asked, standing so that Cordelia could sit.

"Last night. Late." Angel told them.

"How was it? How was everyone?" Wesley asked.

"As good as can be expected." Cordelia told them as she felt Angel's cool hand rest on her shoulder. "They'll get through."

"How are you two?" Wesley asked again.

Angel shrugged. "We'll get through it too."

"But we're back? Right?" Gunn asked.

Angel nodded. "Got to keep the good fight going." He leaned up against the counter, crossing his arms. "So what's been going on while we were away?"

Gunn shook his head. "Not much. The usual."

"Tell him about the necklace! Tell him!" Fred was like a little kid.

"Right." Gunn said, still unsure of how to take in Fred's personality. He turned his attention to Angel. "We killed a vamp a few days ago. Ever since then we think someone's been following us. We think they are looking for something."

Wesley reached around the counter and took a small locket out of the drawer. "Probably this." He handed it to Angel.

Angel opened it and figured if his heart were still beating he would have had a heart attack. The group could see it in his expression as he looked at the locket.

"What is it?" Cordelia asked, concerned.

"I…I knew her." Angel stammered. "Me and Darla…but how…" He seemed lost in his own thoughts.

"So what about her?" Gunn asked.

Angel looked up. "Who do you think is following you?"

Gunn shrugged. "Some dude. Blonde kind of. He seems to mop around a lot. He said your name a few times. I think he knows we work for you."

"Vampire?" Angel asked quickly.

"We believe so." Wesley told him.

Angel slammed the locket down on the counter. "Damn it." He quickly made his way over to the weapons cabinet.

Cordelia was at his side in less than a minute. "Angel? What is it?"

"Penn." Angel said, grabbing an axe and tossing it to Gunn before grabbing himself a sword.

"What kind of pen?" Cordelia asked as Jessica tried biting her mother's earring. Cordelia looked down at her daughter. "Knock it off you. No biting." She watched, as Jessica seemed to pout at her mother's words.

"It's not a pen, like a pen you write with. It's a vampire. Darla and I knew him. We teamed up with his girlfriend and him back in the day. That locket you have, it belonged to her. He gave it to her, some kind of internal love thing. He's probably the one following you because you killed her." Angel explained.

"So what are we gonna do?" Gunn asked.

"Go after him. Kill him before he kills us." Angel said. "Wesley and Gunn, I want you guys to go see if you can track him. He'll know me if I go. Fred, do you think you're game to go with them?"

Fred nodded violently. "Sure am. Do I get to have a sword or an axe or anything pointy?"

Angel held up a crossbow. "This work?"

"Yep. That works." Fred took the crossbow from Angel.

"We'll be back as soon as we here anything." Wesley said as he led Gunn and Fred out the front door.

"Cordy?" Angel said, turning back to her and seeing her sitting on the couch, playing with Jessica. "Cordy?"

She looked up. "Yeah?"

"Get out of here."

"What?" She stood. "Why?"

"Because, Penn will come after me. He knows Wesley and Gunn are working for me. It's only a matter of time."

"Well where the hell do you want me to go?" Cordelia asked. "Not like I have a place or anything."

"Go to your apartment. Dennis will watch out for you and Jess."

"No. Bad plan!" Cordelia said, almost pleading. "If he knows Wesley and Gunn work for you, then he probably knows about Jess, seeing as every single bad thing on earth does, and that means he knows about me." She grabbed his arm, desperation in her voice. "Angel, please, don't make me go there alone."

"Cordy, I just want you to be safe. He can't get you, you leave know you're walking in bright sunlight. He's a vampire."

"Angel, I'm not going." Cordelia said firmly.

"Cordelia, why can't you ever listen?" Angel grabbed her gently by the shoulders, but strong enough to hold her in place. "Go. Go to your apartment, you and Jess, I'll call you when this is all over."

"Angel…" Cordelia pleaded.

"Cordy, go." Angel let go of her. "He's a vampire. You don't invite him in, he can't…" Angel's voice trailed off.

"I'm a demon now, remember?" Cordelia asked.

Angel nodded. "Just go. He can't follow you now. He won't know where to find you."

Cordelia sighed, grabbing Jessica's diaper bag. "Fine…" She went to go out the door, when a young, blonde man walked in.

The man smiled weakly at Cordelia. "Hi, I'm looking for Angel. Do you know where he is?"

"Oh sure." Cordelia turned back to Angel to see him looking up at her with a flustered look on her face. "Angel?" She walked down the stairs. "Angel, what's wrong?" She leaned in to whisper at him, with a fake smile. "You're scaring the client away…"

Angel grabbed Cordelia and pulled her close, putting the sword between the client and his family. "He's not a client."

"What do you mean?" Cordelia looked up at Angel.

"He's right." The blonde man smiled, moving closer to Angel, Cordelia, and Jess. "I'm not a client, but I am…well…you can call me an old friend, I guess."

"Penn…" Angel said, clenching his jaw.

"Penn!" Cordelia was shocked. "As in the vampire Penn? As in…HELLO I SHOULD BURST INTO FLAMES WHEN I WALK IN THE SUNLIGHT, Penn?"

Penn nodded. "Yes, that's me."

"Then why the hell didn't you burst into flames?" Cordelia asked.

Penn shrugged. "I had something done." He looked to Angel. "You took from me what I lived for. I have nothing left."

"So why did you come here?" Angel asked, still keeping the sword high in front of him, Cordelia, and their child.

"For you." Penn said, his voice full of pain and sorrow. "To give you what you deserve."

"And what's that?" Angel asked.

"Death." Penn said simply. "You killed the once person in this world I loved. "

"Penn, listen, I know what you're going through, it doesn't have to be this way-" Angel started.

"You don't have a clue!" Penn lunged at Angel, knocking him to the ground.

Cordelia had moved out of the way just in time and was now standing over Penn with Jessica in one hand and a stake in the other. "Well, it was nice meeting you." She then jammed the stake in Penn's back.

Penn doubled over and rolled to the side, but to both Angel and Cordelia's surprise, he didn't turn to dust. He just slowly got up, pulling the stake out of him.

"Uh…Angel?" Cordelia said, slowly backing up.

"Yeah." Angel agreed without her even saying anything. "Sewers, now!" He grabbed her hand and led her down the stairs to the sewer access before Penn could get up.

Gunn, Wesley, and Fred walked around the block that they had killed the vampire and found the locket. They assumed Penn would still be around there, but to all of their surprises he wasn't.

"This is weird." Gunn said. "He was here yesterday, and the day before."

"Maybe he got over her and moved on." Fred suggested.

Wesley shook his head. "The way Angel described him, I doubt he would have. We just need to find somebody who would know where he went."

"Like him?" Gunn pointed to a man moving in the shadows.

"Perhaps." Wesley said, leading the group toward the pain.

The dark figure seemed to panic and took off, but stopped short when the overhang he was under ended and the sunlight streamed onto the sidewalk.

"So, I take it you know Penn then, seeing as how you're as dead as him?" Gunn asked, taking the crossbow from Fred and aiming it at the vampire's back.

The vampire turned around slowly. He seemed to be frightened. "Please…please don't shoot me, whatever you want, I'll tell you."

"Now that's what I'm talking about." Gunn said. "Go ahead Wes."

Wesley nodded. "Where is Penn?"

The vampire shrugged. "He left."

"Where?" Wesley asked again.

"Some doctor. He said he could help him." The vampire said.

"What kind of doctor?" Wesley asked.

"A specialist. I'm not sure why he went. It's down on Western Ave." The vampire explained.

"Well thank you kindly, sir." Fred smiled, but her smile faded quickly as she watched the vampire turn to dust as the bow from Gunn's crossbow hit him square in the chest.

"Let's move." Gunn smiled.

Jessica whimpered softly in Cordelia's arms as Cordelia and Angel made their way through the sewers.

"Shut her up." Angel whispered. "He'll hear her."

"Well, it's not that easy. She's only a baby, and she's scared." Cordelia defended Jessica.

"Yeah? Well, she'll be a dead baby if she doesn't shut up soon." Angel whispered again.

Cordelia went to protest when they suddenly heard Penn's footsteps.

"Angelus, I'm coming…" Penn hollered through the tunnels.

Angel grabbed Cordelia's hand that wasn't holding onto Jessica and led her into a doorway. "In here." He told her, and slammed the door behind them.

"Will this hold?" Cordelia looked around the small room of the sewer. "And how the hell did you know this was here?"

"Me and Doyle used to come down here a lot." Angel told her. "And it should hold."

"Why can't we kill him?" Cordelia asked, bouncing Jessica in her arms to keep the child from crying.

"I don't know." Angel said. "I'm hoping Wesley and Gunn and Fred do, but right now we've got to figure out how to get out of this."

"You said it would hold." Cordelia told him.

Angel nodded. "But I didn't say for long."

Gunn, Wesley, and Fred slowly walked up the stairs to the doctor's office on Western Ave. The waiting room was small and empty besides the plump secretary sitting behind her desk.

"Can I help you?" The secretary asked.

"Yeah." Gunn told her. "We need to see you're doctor."

"He's with a patient now, if you'll just take a seat-" The secretary started, but was cut off.

"Lady!" Fred held up the axe Gunn had given her when he took the crossbow from her. "If you don't let us in there…"

"One moment." The secretary said, hurrying back to the doctor.

"Damn girl, that was tight." Gunn said, giving Fred a high-five.

"Yes." Wesley chimed in. "Very good."

Fred smiled widely. "Well, thank you."

The secretary appeared a moment later, clearly nervous. "Come right on in." She motioned for Gunn, Wesley, and Fred to follow her.

The doctor sat in a big leather chair with his back to Wesley, Gunn, and Fred as they entered. When the nurse closed the door behind them the doctor turned around. To everyone's surprise the doctor was human.

"My secretary told me this was urgent." The doctor stood. "I'm Dr. Trans."

Wesley shook Dr. Trans hand. "We have some questions for you, doctor."

The doctor nodded. "Very well."

"We believe you treated a vampire in here possibly yesterday." Wesley told him. "Do you know who I'm talking about?"

Dr. Trans shook his head and swallowed nervously.

"He's lying!" Fred stated the obvious.

Gunn raised the crossbow to Dr. Trans' chest. "I think the girls right. You are lying, so I'm gonna give you about ten seconds to tell the truth."

"Penn!" The doctor squealed. "The vampire's name is Penn! He came in here because he needed me to help him."

"Help him with what?" Wesley asked.

"He…he made me perform an operation on him." The doctor told him.

"What kind?" Wesley was getting impatient.

"He said he had nothing left to live for. He just wanted to walk in the sun and take care of one last thing." Dr. Trans told them. "I helped him."

"Walking in the sun?" Gunn asked.

"You take out a vampires heart, nothing can kill them." Dr. Trans explained. "They die eventually because their body gives, but until then they are unstoppable. No sun, no stake, no cross, no fire can kill them."

"And you took out his heart you dumb-ass." Gunn said.

The doctor nodded.

"Just curious, but did Penn say what the one last thing he needed to take care of was?" Fred asked.

"Something about a vampire he knew. He needed to break even with him, because that vampire and his friends took something from Penn." Dr. Trans told them. "The vampire is Angel, if any of you have heard of him, he's got a soul."

"No kidding…" Gunn said sarcastically.

Dr. Trans nodded. "He's a pest on this planet. I'll be glad if Penn takes him out, he kills all of my clients."

"Well…" Gunn leaned closer to the doctor. "Let me let you in on a secret…we work for Angel!" He then swung the crossbow across the doctor's head, knocking him to the floor.

"We have to call Angel!" Wesley decided.

Fred and Gunn nodded as they all made their way out of the office.

Cordelia sat on a broken box with Jessica held tightly to her chest in the sewer. "Well, we can't stay like this forever…"

"You think I don't know that, Cordy?" Angel paced.

"Sorry…" Cordelia rolled her eyes. "I'm just saying…"

"I'm trying to figure a way out."

"The way we came in?" Cordelia stood.

Angel shook his head. "To risky."

"So what do we do? Sit here and wait until Wesley calls?" Just then Cordelia's phone started ringing. She picked it up. "Hello? Wesley? Yeah…oh…oh no…great…in the sewers…are you sure? Okay…okay…bye." She hung up.

"What?" Angel asked. "What did he say?"

"Well…" Cordelia inhaled deeply. "We can't kill him, because he doesn't have a heart, but the good news is he will die on his own soon."

"Good…so we just wait him out then." Angel decided.

"Except for the whole part of him wanting to kill you." Cordelia mentioned. "Angel, I think this is bad."

Angel kissed Cordelia on the top of her head softly. "It's going to be okay. He can't find us."

Cordelia leaned against Angel's chest. "You're sure?"

Angel nodded. "I'm sure-" He was cut off by Penn breaking down the back wall. He quickly took Cordelia and Jessica in his arms and made his way out the door they had entered. "Let's move!"

"I thought you said he couldn't find us!" Cordelia reminded Angel as he carried both her and Jessica through the sewers rapidly.

"I was wrong then." Angel said, looking behind him to see Penn a few yards back.

"Where are we going?" Cordelia asked, holding on to Angel and Jessica for her life.

Angel didn't say anything; he just led them back into the hotel basement. He set Cordelia down and closed the sewer access behind him. "Cordy? Listen to me. Get the hell out of here."

"Angel…" Cordelia pleaded. "I'm not leaving. I told you that before."

"He wants me, Cordy. This has nothing to do with you. You stay here and he'll kill you." Angel told her.

"No he won't." She shook her head violently, gripping Jessica tightly.

"Yes he will. He'll come after you if you stay here."

"You just said he's after you. I stay here and help you fight, he has no reason to come after me if he only wants you dead."

"He'll want you dead too." Angel told her.

"Why?"

Angel took her hand and kissed her gently. "He'll kill you because you mean something to me. Because I love you…"

"You? In love?" Penn asked from behind Angel with outrage in his voice.

Angel turned to face the vampire and the first thing he noticed was how the sewer access door didn't really hold up to invasion. He decided he'd get that fixed when this was all over.

"Angelus?" Penn clenched his jaw. "Your people took her from me-"

"It's Angel." Angel interrupted her. "And you'll just have to deal with it."

"So the soul is true?" Penn breathed in heavy even though he did not need air, and Angel could tell her was getting weak.

Angel nodded, motioning for Cordelia to take Jessica upstairs and rolling his eyes when he realized Cordelia wasn't going to budge. "The soul is real."

"And you love her." Penn tilted his head to Cordelia.

"I do." Angel told him.

"That's crap." Penn shot back, watching Cordelia's mouth drop. "What about Darla?"

"What about her?" Angel had no emotion in his voice as he spoke of the blonde vampire.

Penn shook his head. "I thought you were in love with her."

"In lust with her." Angel corrected. "I couldn't love her because I didn't have a soul."

"And what? Since you do now it's any different?" Penn asked.

Angel nodded. "It's a hell of a lot different."

Penn shook his head violently. "You don't deserve love." He lunged at Angel but was to weak now, and Angel quickly threw Penn against the wall. Penn slowly sat up, wincing in pain. "You could never love another human."

"Demon, actually." Cordelia corrected the rude vampire. "Half-demon anyway."

"Doesn't matter." Penn told her. "You'll see…one day you'll see Angelus' true colors."

Cordelia shrugged. "I already have."

Angel smiled slyly as he knelt down in front of Penn. "It's different now, Penn."

"You're trying to tell me you'd give the world for this…this tramp?" Penn motioned to Cordelia and felt the blood rush from his nose as Angel's fist hit his face. "You'll never change. You don't know love. I was in love. You just use woman. Use them for whatever you like and dispose of them. You'll do the same with her." Penn looked at Cordelia to see that his words had hit a nerve. He stood and turned his attention back to Angel. "You don't deserve to be loved. You don't deserve to live. You don't deserve anything."

Cordelia saw Penn pull out the stake before Angel had time to react. She wanted to scream, but nothing came out. She watched as Penn drove the stake into Angel's chest. "Angel!" She cried.

Angel gasped and looked down at the wood sticking out of him, then back at a smiling Penn. He fell to his knees.

"Dust to dust, Angelus." Penn smiled, waiting for Angel to become a pile of nothing.

Angel grunted in pain and pulled the stake out, throwing it on the floor. "You dumb ass." Angel stood to both Penn and Cordelia's surprise. "All those years of fearing the stake and you don't even know where to stick on." Angel lifted his shirt to show Penn that he had in fact missed his heart and had jabbed Angel in the stomach.

Penn staggered backwards, falling to the floor. He was dieing. "You…you bastard…"

Angel shook his head. "It's over Penn."

"Love…is…never over." Penn said before turning into a pile of dust.

Cordelia was at Angel's side instantly, helping him up the stairs with one arm, as she had the other one tightly wrapped around Jessica. All of Penn's words pushed to the back of her mind for the moment. "Are you okay?"

Angel winced, holding the spot that Penn had driven the stake. "I'll be okay."

Cordelia got him over to the couch, and helped him sit, before placing Jessica in her playpen and grabbing her stash of bandages. "I'll just get you all patched up and…ANGEL!" She rushed over to his side to find him unconscious.

Wesley, Gunn, and Fred rushed in the hotel, clearly rattled by Cordelia's screams.

"What happened?" Gunn threw his weapons down. "Did that son of a bitch get him?"

"Penn's dead." She looked up at Wesley, her eyes pleading. "Help me."

Wesley was at her side in a flash. "What happened?"

Cordelia shrugged as tears fell from her eyes. "Penn staked him…he lost a lot of blood, but he shouldn't be…" She looked up at Angel.

"Knocked out?" Gunn said, less enthused. "He'll come around, he'll be fine. Look…" Gunn picked up a book from the table and slammed Angel in the head only to find the vampire did not wake up.

"Gunn!" Cordelia's eyes narrowed.

"It seems like a coma of some sort." Wesley said, looking at Angel intensely. "More than likely mystical."

"What makes you say that?" Fred asked, clearly interested.

"Because his cut has healed already." Wesley said, lifting Angel's shirt to find not a scratch on him. "Angel heals fast, but not that fast."

"Plus no blood loss is gonna stop a vampire. They just refill up." Gunn said.

"Then hello! Big problem." Cordelia was no longer crying, and Wesley could hear the rage creeping its way into her voice. "We need to get him back."

"I agree." Wesley told her. "We should probably get Lorne over here."

"Well let's get moving." Cordelia said.

"Not to be the bearer of bad news." Fred said, shyly. "But coma's, mystical or not, they aren't the easiest thing to come out of."

Cordelia's eyes fell back on Angel. He looked peaceful and she could feel the panic setting in. What if Fred was right? What if Angel wasn't coming back? "Get him in his room." Cordelia ordered. "I'll watch him. And Gunn and Wesley, can you go get Lorne?

Gunn and Wesley nodded as the slowly grabbed Angel from the couch and moved him upstairs.

"Cordelia, if I can help at all…I mean…I'm here-" Fred stammered.

Cordelia nodded, her eyes sad. "Can you watch Jess for me?"

Fred nodded, scooping Jessica up in her arms and watching Cordelia head up the stairs to Angel's room.

Angel woke and felt the sun beating down on him. He panicked and looked somewhere for shade, some crevice of darkness in the…field? He stood from his spot in the grass. "What the hell…"

"Thought you'd like it here."

The familiar voice sang in Angel's ear. He couldn't believe it was her. He must be dreaming; he had to be dreaming. She was dead. He had seen her body. She couldn't be here. He turned to the direction the voice came from. "Buffy?"

"Alive and…well dead, but yeah." The former slayer smiled at him.