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 27
The group stood as Darla made her way slowly into the lobby; rage in the vampire's eyes. She walked over to Angel and shoved him half way across the room. "What the hell did you do to me? You son of a bitch!"
Angel quickly staggered to his feet. "Me!"
"Yeah you!" Darla hissed at him, clutching her stomach. "Look at me! You did this!"
Angel shook his head. "I didn't…it can't be mine."
"You slept with her?" Cordelia asked, her eyes between tears and anger.
Angel turned to Cordelia, avoiding her question. "It's not mine. The timings off, not to mention vampires can't have children."
"Well you've got Jess…" Gunn reminded him.
"That's different. That was mystical. Me and Cordelia never…well we didn't have to sleep together for her to get pregnant."
"But you slept with her." Cordelia accused, motioning to Darla.
"Oh he did." Darla smirked. "And he left me with something!" She slammed Angel again.
"It can't be mine!" Angel growled. "That was what? Four months ago? You look about eight months along!"
"Mystical, I guess, buddy. You know, like two damn vampires having a baby!" Darla shot back, the anger draining from her face as she leaned against the counter, out of breath.
Cordelia placed Jessica in her playpen and to everyone's surprise made her way over to Darla. "You should sit down." Cordelia led her over to the couch.
"Cordy…" Angel seemed a little confused. "She is still a vampire…still Darla…"
Cordelia nodded, not looking at Angel. "And you still slept with her, and she's still pregnant. I was there once, I know how it feels." She was trying so hard to hold back tears.
Darla could immediately tell how much pain the young seer was in, and the demon inside of her loved it. "Well, what he can't get at home I guess he looks for in other places…"
Cordelia felt Darla's comment cut her like a knife. She wiped a tear and quickly stood. "Sorry I tried to help." She then made her way over to Jessica's playpen and picked up her daughter, before making her way up the stairs. A minute later the group heard her door slam shut.
Angel was the first to recover. "I've got to go talk to her."
"Uh…Angel?" Wesley raised an eyebrow at Darla.
Angel shrugged. "Start looking stuff up about it. It's mystical. Vampire's can't have kids, this has got to be something."
"Probably part of the prophecy, the birth part anyway." Fred said. "We should probably look more in depth at that."
Angel nodded. "Good…Fred and Wesley you do that. Gunn and Lorne, you guys keep an eye on Darla, arm yourselves."
Gunn and Lorne nodded picking up a crossbow and a stake as Wesley and Fred made their way into the office.
"Oh please…where do you think I'm going to go?" Darla asked. "I came here because I figured you little morons would be able to help me. I'm not going to go and eat the help."
"Just in case…" Angel told her as he turned and made his way up the stairs after Cordelia.
Angel entered the bedroom he shared with Cordelia to find Jessica screaming her lungs out in her crib, and Cordelia nowhere in sit. The bathroom door was closed, and Angel could hear Cordelia's soft whimpers coming through the door. He sighed, picking up a teddy bear and throwing it in Jessica's cribs. "Here baby…stop crying, it's going to be okay."
Jessica did not stop crying, but Angel did not try to comfort her anymore. He needed to talk to Cordelia. He made his way over to the door. "Cordy?"
No response.
"Cordelia?" Angel asked again. He waited a minute and then slammed a fist on the door. "Let me in!" Jessica started crying harder.
The door swung open and Cordelia quickly made her way past Angel and over to Jessica's crib where she picked up the hysterical child. "You can't even stop your own daughter from crying?" Cordelia asked angrily. "Well, I guess you should practice seeing as how you're going to be a father again!"
"We need to talk." Angel stated the obvious.
"You think!" Cordelia spat, placing a now calm Jessica back in her crib. Tears flowed freely from the young mother's eyes as the rage built up inside of her.
"You really can't be angry with me. You and me weren't even together at the time." Angel sat on the bed.
"Oh so you basically slept with her after you fired us! Well, gee, now that should just make me not care at all!"
"Okay, you have every right to be angry, but it was at a bad time for me." Angel told her. "It happened that night I came to talk to you and you shot me down. I went to Buffy for help and she shot me down too. She told me I deserved you being mad at me. I was in pain. I didn't want to face this world without you and Jessica by my side. I wanted to hide my face. I wanted to hide myself…" He looked down at his hands.
"So you thought bringing Angelus out was just the thing to do then?" Cordelia shot back, she wasn't sure how angry she was at him anymore; she was more hurt then anything.
Angel shrugged, looking at the ground. "I don't know…I just couldn't deal without you here. I didn't want to try." He shook his head. "I tried to protect you by throwing you out, but it killed me inside. When you wouldn't take me back…I guess…I don't know, I lost it."
Cordelia sat down next to him, breathing in heavily. "That's not an excuse."
Angel nodded. "I know. I wasn't trying to make it one. I just wanted you to know that I didn't do this to hurt you."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Cordelia asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"About Darla?"
Cordelia nodded.
"Why should I have? Everything with you and me was getting better. It wasn't like you and I were together when Darla and me slept together. I didn't want to bring things in that meant nothing, and that's what Darla meant, nothing."
"But she is downstairs now, with something that is yours." Cordelia told him.
Angel nodded. "I'm not going to stop telling you how sorry I am about this."
"Oh, I know you're not." Cordelia stood, picking Jessica up.
"You're still angry?"
Cordelia nodded. "I can't say I'm not. I'm more hurt that you did this behind my back."
"We weren't…I didn't…" Angel didn't have an answer for her.
"Come on, we should get downstairs." Cordelia told him, trying to hide a few stray tears.
Wesley and Fred sat over the scrolls in the office both scratching their heads. They believed that they had uncovered something in the scrolls that could explain Darla's condition, but they were both hoping they were wrong.
"Angel and Cordy are down here, cupcakes." Lorne stuck his head in. "You got anything?"
Wesley and Fred looked at each other.
"We may." Wesley said rising as he and Fred followed Lorne into the lobby, where they found Darla on one couch with Gunn flipping a stake up in the air next to her and Cordelia on the opposite couch with Jessica in her arms, and Angel behind her.
"Got anything?" Angel asked.
Wesley sighed. "We believe so."
"Thank God!" Darla sighed.
Fred nodded. "Well, we are pretty sure the birth of this thing is the birth mentioned in the prophecy."
"Making it…evil." Angel looked away. He was not in love with Darla by any means, but she was caring his child. He was told he would never be able to have one, and he had gotten Jessica, his first miracle. Now he had another miracle on the way, and he didn't want to acknowledge the fact that the second miracle could help end mankind.
"We're not sure." Wesley said quickly. "There is so much on these scrolls we don't fully understand yet. It may not make this child evil."
"Well what the hell else would it be?" Darla asked. "Me…evil…Angel…well he had his day."
"Shut up, Darla." Angel sighed, looking at Jessica. "But she's probably right. I don't see how this child could be good."
"Well, we know that this is the birth mentioned and the Tro-clan is evil events, right?" Cordelia asked.
Wesley nodded.
"Then yeah. This thing probably is evil." Cordelia offered, smugly.
"Or maybe it's not." Gunn said. "Maybe its here to it can kick Holtz's ass, since we know he's evil."
"Holtz?" Darla stood. "What do you mean, Holtz?"
"He's…uh…well…he's back." Angel stated.
"You're joking, right?" Darla asked.
Angel shook his head. "No. Kind of wish I were."
"Good." Darla quickly made her way to the door.
"Where are you going?" Angel asked.
"To find Holtz. If anyone can kill this thing inside of me I'm sure he can." Darla told him.
"Kill it? What?" Angel was shocked.
Darla turned on her heel to face him. "Yeah, kill it. I don't want this…this thing inside of me! I've been trying forever to get rid of it but nothing seems to be working."
Angel had gotten a dumb look to his face. He was unable to move. Here he was, thinking of how he was going to deal with another child, and there Darla was, trying to kill it. Even for not having a soul that seemed like a pretty harsh thing to do in his mind.
"So, if I sent a stake right through your big old stomach nothing would happen?" Gunn asked, intrigued.
"Is that the point?" Angel snapped back. "No…no we need to figure out what is in there." He pointed to Darla's belly.
"Damn right we do." Darla said. "And clearly your little detectives can't help me, so I'm going to find someone who can." She turned to the door.
"Darla…" Angel grabbed her by the arm. "Don't leave-" He was cut off by Darla slamming him across the room, and then taking off into the night.
Cordelia threw the icepack in Angel's lap. She was clearly still angry or upset with him. He wasn't sure which it was.
"Put it on your head." She told him.
He listened and placed the ice on the place Darla and threw his head into the floor. "Thanks."
Cordelia just nodded and picked up Jessica from the playpen. The child was wide-awake, which was odd considering the time of night it was. Jessica looked over Cordelia's shoulder to see her father with the icepack and immediately started giggling, showing her two, rather large and pointy, k-9 teeth.
"So, do we have any idea where Darla would have gone?" Wesley asked.
Angel shook his head. "Not a clue. She could have picked up Holtz's trail from earlier, but I doubt that's very fresh anymore or that she would really try and find him."
"So it's like finding a needle in a haystack?" Gunn asked.
"More like in the desert." Lorne said.
"Why would a needle be in the desert?" Gunn asked.
"Well-" Lorne started.
"Again…not the point." Angel interjected.
"Sorry…" Gunn and Lorne mumbled at the same time.
"Well…" Fred said. "I guess we should just go and look for her, right?"
Angel shook her head. "She's dangerous, and strong. She knows we can't help her and I don't think she'd have a big problem killing any of us then."
Cordelia gasped, making all heads turn to her as they watched her eyes grow wide. "She's close…" Cordelia got out.
"Vision?" Angel was at her side in a moment. "Cordy?"
She gripped onto him as the vision ended and fear filled her eyes. "Oh God…"
"What?" Angel held her closer, making Jessica squirm between them. "What is it?"
"Her…she's at the grade school…" Cordelia said.
"Why?" Angel seemed more relaxed now.
"The big sleep out." Gunn told him. "The one where all the kids in the school stay at the school over night."
"Oh…" Angel thought for a moment. "Oh!"
"Yeah…" Cordelia told him. "You've got to save those kids! Go!"
Angel nodded. "Come on, Gunn. Wesley, Lorne, watch the girls."
"You got it, boss." Lorne told him, as he watched Angel and Gunn quickly hustle out of the lobby.
Angel and Gunn entered the school to find kids sprawled out everywhere. Classrooms, hallways, gyms, cafeterias-sleeping bags were everywhere.
"Well, this is going to be a little harder then expected…" Gunn said.
Angel nodded. "There are so many people in here, I can't pick up her trail at all."
Suddenly both men heard a scream coming from down the hall.
"I got a pretty good idea where she is…" Gunn said, taking off down the hall with Angel close behind.
The two men rounded the corner to see Darla holding up a little girl against the wall with her game face on. The little girl screamed and Darla jerked her until she felt Gunn's arrow hit her leg. She quickly dropped the girl.
"Gunn! Get her out of here!" Angel motioned to the little girl.
Gunn nodded and grabbed the girl's hand before taking off down the hallway.
Angel pulled the arrow out of Darla's leg and watched her gasp in pain, he then lifted and pinned her against the wall, holding the stake high above his head. "What the hell is wrong with you!"
"Do you have it in you? To kill me?" Darla asked, looking at the stake.
"Why the hell wouldn't I?" The anger was evident in Angel's voice.
"Then do it. Do it! DO IT!" Darla went hysterical. "Do it Angelus! Kill me!"
That was the first time Angel picked it up, and he lowered the stake in awe. He had spent the entire night around Darla and he had been so wrapped up in what was going on that he hadn't even noticed. He let go of her and she fell into his arms. "It has a soul…"
Darla shook her head violently against his chest. "No it doesn't!" She cried.
"Yes it does. The baby, our baby, it has a soul, Darla. You have a soul inside of you." He held her closer. "Your soul, our child's soul. You share it."
Darla shook her head. "It can't…"
"Why not?" Angel looked down her.
"Because it's killing me."
"You feel it. You feel its soul."
Darla nodded, sobbing harder.
"It's going to be okay. Come on, it's going to be okay. I promise." He kissed her gently on the head.
"No, it's not, Angelus." Holtz's voice came from behind the two vampires. "I knew I would have found you two together eventually." He sneered. "And to just think, the two of you conceiving a child with a soul. To bad you won't live to see it be born." He raised the crossbow that was in his hands.
Darla was the first to react. She quickly dodged out of Angel's way, and grabbed Holtz's, forcing him to shoot the crossbow up at the ceiling. "You couldn't catch us back in the day, and like hell you're going to catch us now." She bent Holtz's arm back and watched as he fell to the ground in pain.
Angel and Darla stumbled into the hotel lobby just before daybreak. From the looks of the lobby, it seemed as though everyone had been up all night researching. Wesley was snoring with his head on his desk, Lorne was in a chair asleep, Fred was in a pile on the floor with papers scattered around her, and Cordelia was sprawled out on the couch with Jessica's baby food jar in her hand. Surprisingly Jessica was wide-awake in her playpen, throwing her teddy bear against the side.
Angel quickly moved to his daughter and picked her up. He held her close to him for a moment, inhaling the soft smell of baby powder and laundry detergent.
"She's been up all morning." Gunn whispered from behind the counter, causing Angel to jump. "Sorry."
Angel just nodded. "Did you help the little girl?"
"Yeah. Just got back." Gunn looked over at Darla who was now sitting on the steps. "What's she doing here?"
Before Angel could answer Jessica began squirming around in his arms, clearly wanting to be put on the floor to crawl. When Angel didn't set her down she began screaming, causing everyone in the room to wake up.
"Jess!" Cordelia panicked as she looked over to see the playpen empty. She turned to see Angel with their daughter in his arms and she immediately relaxed. "Oh, thank God."
"Yeah. She's okay, mommy." Angel said, still not sure if Cordelia was still made at him as he set Jessica on the floor to stop her from crying.
"So, how did it go?" Wesley asked, wiping his face.
"She's alive." Gunn sighed, pointing over to Darla on the steps.
Everyone was in shock.
"Okay, not being rude, but why the hell is she here?" Cordelia asked. "No one said to bring her back here."
"I…I just thought…" Angel stammered.
"No, you didn't think. That's the problem with you, Angel, you don't think." Cordelia snapped.
"Cordy…I…" Angel tried again.
"Don't Cordy me, buddy! I-" Cordelia started.
"Jessica!" Fred shouted.
"I-Jessica?" Cordelia turned to Fred to see her pointing to the baby who had now crawled all the way over to Darla. "Oh God…" Fear filled the young mother's eyes as she watched her child approach the killer on the stairs.
Jessica stopped in front of the pregnant vampire before making a fist and punching Darla in the foot. She then looked up at the blonde vampire and gave a grin before rolling onto her back and sucking her thumb.
Everyone was still in the room, holding their breaths, waiting to see Darla's move. To everyone's surprise the blonde vampire just began to laugh at the child laying in front of her.
"I've seen that grin before." Darla smiled up at Angel, and then turned her attention to Cordelia. "She must get it from her father."
Cordelia raised an eyebrow. "Am I dreaming? Someone pinch me."
Fred pinched her.
"Ouch! Fred! Not literally." Cordelia told the other woman as she began rubbing her arm. "I'm just a little confused, because wasn't she trying to get us all killed a few hours ago?"
"The baby. It has a soul." Angel told the group. "Darla shares its soul."
Cordelia raised her eyebrow again. "So what does that mean? That she is suddenly good now and isn't going to hurt any of us?" Cordelia snorted.
"Not right now, anyway." Darla said smugly.
"Well, good." Cordelia gave a slight grin back that Angel could have sworn he had not seen expressed on her face since the reign of Queen C had ended. Cordelia quickly picked up Jessica and took her daughter up the stairs.
Angel helped Darla into the spare room that had once belonged to him, but since he was now sharing a room with Cordelia it served no purpose anymore. He eased the vampire into bed and tucked her in.
"Thanks…" Darla huffed.
"Yeah. If you need anything, just shout." Angel told her.
Darla nodded. "Angel?"
"Yeah?"
"Holtz's can't have this baby. I'm not sure if I want to have it, but all I know is he can't get a hand on it. I might be evil, but I'm not stupid."
Angel nodded. "I know."
"And tell Cordelia…" Darla rolled her eyes at the words she was about to say. "That I'm sorry…I guess."
Angel chuckled to himself as he exited the room.
Cordelia placed Jessica down in her crib and began throwing pillows on the floor in a pile. Granted, it was morning, but the fang gang hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, and they were all getting ready for a nap that would consist of at least a few hours of sleep.
"Daaaaaaaa!" Jessica's voice filled the room and Cordelia turned to see her daughter clinging onto the side of the crib. "Daaaaaaaaaaa!"
"Jess, stop your babbling." Cordelia said, running a hand through her hair. "You should be as tired as I am."
"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Jessica belted out again.
"What daa?" Cordelia asked, trying to figure out what her daughter was trying to say.
"Daaaaaaaaaaaaa! Daaaaaaaaaaaa! Daaaaaaaaaaaa!" Jessica screamed again, turning suddenly and getting quiet once the door opened and Angel enter. Jessica immediately let go of the side of the crib, flopping onto her back with a grin, staring at Angel. "Da."
Angel grinned. "That's me. Da-ddy." Angel pronounced, only to hear Cordelia snort.
"Figures." Cordelia crossed her arms. "She always was a Daddy's girl."
Angel bit his lip and tried to take Cordelia's hand in his, but she pulled away. "Cordelia…I-"
"You're sleeping on the floor." Cordelia pointed to the pile of pillows she had stacked.
"You're still mad." Angel sighed.
"Hurt…mad…upset…" Cordelia copied Angel's sigh. "It doesn't matter."
"Yes it does." Angel told her. "It matters because you matter."
Cordelia snorted. "I'm sure you mentioned that to Darla too, right?"
"Cordelia, I said it before and I'll keep saying it. I'm so sorry for what I did. I wasn't thinking, but right now I need you to understand I know how big I messed up. There are bigger things going on right now and we need to work together to stop whatever's coming. We're a team. You were the one who told me that and now I'll remind you." Angel told her.
Cordelia smiled slightly as Angel repeated the words she had said a few months ago, her smiled then faded and she turned back to him. "The child Darla's caring has a soul?"
Angel nodded. "Yes."
Cordelia sighed. "Well, once Darla has the baby, she won't have a soul anymore, right?"
Angel's brow hunched over his eyes as he began to think. He had forgotten that once the child was born the soul inside Darla would be taken away. She would become a heartless killer again. "Yeah, I guess so."
Cordelia nodded. "Well, I guess that means we're going to have to deal with that and we need to go shopping soon."
"Why?"
"Hello! Two babies in this house! We are so going to need double of everything now." Cordelia told him with a smile.
He pulled her close to him and rested his head on her shoulder, inhaling her shampoo. He knew he had hurt her, but she seemed to look past it now. He could feel it in her as he held her close to him, her heartbeat pounding in his ear.