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
AUTHOR NOTE: I KNOW SOME OF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY WITH THE PLOT RIGHT NOW, BUT JUST TRUST ME ON IT.
CHAPTER 31
Wesley still sat at his desk, hunched over the newly found prophecy. It couldn't be true. Angel loved those children more then life. He would never do a thing to hurt them. Still the words sat on his desk. Plan as paper. They had sat there with him all day and now into the night as he tried to make sense of everything. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. He was so involved in his thoughts that he didn't hear Fred enter.
"Wesley?" Fred asked.
Wesley's blood shot eyes shot up from the paper he had been starring at. "What?"
Fred could tell something was wrong. "Wesley? Are you okay?"
Wesley shook his head. "I need to show you something."
Fred nodded. "Okay. What is it?"
"The package you brought me. It was a prophecy. I deciphered it." He handed her the paper.
Fred read the words over again and again. She couldn't believe them. She handed Wesley back the paper and shook her head. "It can't be true."
"I know." Wesley sighed. "But that's what it says."
"Well rework it! Check it again!" Fred's voice rose. "It's not right."
"Fred, it is-" Wesley started but was interrupted as Gunn entered.
"What the hell is going on in here?" Gunn asked.
Fred and Wesley looked at each other and then down at the ground.
"Close the door, Charles." Fred told him.
Gunn nodded slowly and closed the door. "Now can you tell me?"
"I found a prophecy." Wesley said.
"Okay? And…" Gunn raised an eyebrow.
"And it says that Angel is going to kill Jess and Connor!" Fred said quickly.
"What?" Gunn screwed up his face. "That's not a funny joke."
"And no one is laughing." Wesley said, handing Gunn the paper.
Gunn read it over and shook his head. "You're sure you can't be wrong about this, English?"
Wesley looked down, shaking his head. "No. Believe me, I tried a million times over to find different meanings to the words."
"So do we tell Angel and Cordy?" Gunn asked.
Wesley shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think they would believe us."
"Well, we gotta do something." Gunn told them.
"But what?" Wesley asked.
Then it clicked for Fred. "Where did that package actually come from? The one I brought in that gave you this prophecy, Wes?"
Wesley shrugged. "I don't know. It didn't have a return address. Why?"
"Because maybe it's false." Fred told them.
"Yeah, except who the hell has the power to make a fake prophecy like that?" Gunn asked, already knowing the answer.
"Looks like we have an appointment at an evil law firm." Wesley told them, as he stood and lead them out of his office.
Angel sat out on his balcony. He had been out there since his hungry feeling that afternoon. He knew Cordelia was down the hall trying to get the children to sleep, and he knew he should have been helping her, except for the fake that he wanted to make his children a late night snack.
"So the demon in you is starting to show." Holtz's voice came from the corner of the balcony. "You should have known you were never meant to be a family man."
"I thought I killed you." Angel said, not bothering to look up.
"Almost." Holtz sighed, stepping out of the shadows. "Like you almost wanted to take a bite out of your kids earlier."
"How did you know?" Angel asked, still not looking up.
"It was written in the prophecies."
Angel's eyes shot up. "What?"
"The prophecies. One was written that this day would come and you would destroy your children." Holtz lied. "Didn't your English friend tell you?"
Angel shook his head. "Wesley doesn't know. He would have told me-"
"He knows." Holtz said. "Check his desk. Then when you understand it fully come find me. I can help you."
"Why would you help me?" Angel asked.
"Because, I was a father too at one time." Holtz told him, and then hopped off the balcony.
Angel sat for a moment, and then got up, quickly making his way down to the office.
Cordelia sat in a chair, rocking Connor in her arms. He was almost asleep. Her eyes fell on Jessica who was crawling on the floor with her teddy bear between her large K-9 teeth. Jessica stopped at Cordelia's feet and grinned up at her mother, dropping the teddy bear.
"Da?" Jessica asked, looking around.
"I don't know where he went, sweetie." Cordelia whispered to her daughter. "He'll be here soon, I'm sure."
That answer seemed to satisfy Jessica for the moment as she picked the teddy bear back up in her teeth and continued on her adventure over to the closet.
Cordelia smiled down at Connor whose eyes were half opened. "Sleep my baby boy." Cordelia whispered to him. "Sh…"
Connor's eyes fell closed and Cordelia leaned back into her rocking chair with a sigh. She hadn't seen a sign of Angel since he had blasted out of the lobby earlier that day and now she was starting to worry a little about where he was. He had said he had work to do, so maybe he had gone out. She wasn't sure, and she didn't like being unsure.
Wesley, Gunn, and Fred entered the building of Wolfram and Hart. They slowly made their way over to the front desk.
"Any ideas of how we getting in here?" Gunn whispered to Wesley.
Wesley nodded as he made his way over to the secretary. "Hi, we need to see Lilah Morgan."
The secretary looked up at him. "Miss Morgan is very busy right now. Do you have an appointment?"
"No, but trust me, she will want to see me." Wesley told her. "Just call her, you'll see."
The secretary nodded and dialed the number. "Hell Miss Morgan you have clients down here wanting to see you…" The secretary looked up at Wesley. "What was your name?"
"Daniel Holtz." Wesley lied.
"Daniel Holtz." The secretary repeated into the phone. She then hung up and looked at Wesley. "She said to go right up, Mr. Holtz."
"Thank you." Wesley said, before leading Fred and Gunn into the elevator.
Angel tore apart Wesley's office. He wouldn't have believed a word Holtz had said about some prophecy, expect for the fact that he had felt the need to drink his children to the bone. He had gone through just about the entire office and was ready to go find Holtz and kill him for making him think he was going to kill his children, when suddenly an envelope addressed to Wesley fell off of the desk. Angel moved around and picked it up quickly, examining it. He pulled the contents out to find a scroll. To find the prophecy.
He read it over a few times, his hands trembling as he held the translation written in Wesley's handwriting. Here it was, all in front of him. The prophecy Holtz had told him about. The same prophecy Wesley had been hiding from him. Angel grew angry almost immediately at Wesley.
"Why wouldn't he have told me?" Angel asked himself. Did Wesley want Jessica and Connor dead? Was he part of the problem?
Angel wasn't going to wait to find out. He had to find Holtz. He walked quickly out of the hotel, crumpling up the paper with the translation of the prophecy on it and throwing it on the ground in the lobby.
Wesley, Gunn, and Fred entered Lilah's office to find her sitting at her desk, and Sahjhan standing in the corner. Both the lawyer and demon looked up as the door opened and were in shock to see half of Angel Investigations enter the room.
"Well, we weren't expecting you." Lilah stood.
"Well, we are just full of surprises I guess." Wesley said.
"I can only imagine." Lilah shot back, coolly.
"I'm sure you know why we're here, psycho-bitch." Gunn cut in.
Lilah nodded. "The prophecy."
"And the blood." Fred added.
"Right…" Lilah looked at Sahjhan.
"You should know it is too late." Sahjhan grinned. "By the time you get back the children will be long gone."
"If the prophecy is false then no they won't be, because Angel won't hurt them." Fred told him.
"Wrong little girl." Sahjhan spat. "He's tasted their blood."
"What?" Fred's eyes grew wide.
"That blood supply that was shipped. Well, you knew something was wrong with it, right?" Lilah said. "That is part of the reason you stopped by."
"You put Jess and Connor's blood in the supply?" Gunn asked, outraged.
Lilah nodded. "Not the whole thing. Just what we could get from the doctor's office; after we killed him of course."
"You son of a-" Gunn moved to grab Lilah but could see the demon in the corner did not want any violence and Gunn knew he wasn't going to hold up well against Sahjhan so he stepped back again.
"The bloods probably out of Angel's system already." Wesley said.
"Right. It is, but the feeling isn't." Lilah smirked. "He wanted to kill his children, that feeling of guilt doesn't go away over night. Plus the fact that Holtz helped him locate the fake prophecy that he thinks is real in your office, Wesley."
"Holtz told him?" Wesley asked, shocked.
"All part of the plan." Sahjhan grinned.
Wesley, Gunn, and Fred looked at each other, fear reflecting in each of their eyes. Without another word the three friends bolted out of the office. They knew they had to get back to the hotel as soon as they could.
Angel hadn't even gotten out of the garden before he found Holtz, sitting on the fountain with his hands in his pocket. He looked up at Angel and stood.
"You found it?" Holtz asked.
Angel nodded. "The prophecy…it says…" He chocked on his own words. "Said I would kill them. Jess and Connor."
Holtz nodded. "I told you, but I promise, Angel, I'll help you."
Angel looked up, tears stinging his eyes. It was the first time Holtz had called him by his name. Not Angelus. "How?" It was all the vampire could manage out. His feelings were so tossed up inside of him that he couldn't find his way anymore.
"I'll take them." Holtz told him. "I'll keep them safe. I'll take them somewhere where you can never hurt them."
"Where?"
"Away from here. Out of this plan of existence."
Angel was shocked. "What? Why?"
"If they are on this plan, than you can track them and kill them. You will always be a threat to them unless they do not co-exist with you."
"What about Cordy?" Angel asked. "She…she loves them. I can't take her children from her."
"I understand, but if you don't they will die. Do you think she would want that?" Holtz rested a hand on Angel's shoulder. "I'm sure she would rather know he children are alive and safe, even if they aren't with her, then with her and dead."
Angel nodded. "I should go talk to her about it." He turned to go inside, but Holtz grabbed him quickly.
"No! You can't tell her." Holtz said quickly.
"Why not?"
"Because she won't understand, not right away. She might try to stop us. We don't have time for that. Just, just get the children."
Angel nodded, too confused to try and argue a different point. He then led Holtz into the lobby.
"Cordelia?" Angel called up the stairs. "Can you come down?"
Cordelia sighed from the rocking chair in Connor's room. Angel's voice had woken up the baby boy and Jessica was still wide-awake, making her way around the room.
"Coming, Angel!" Cordelia said, picking up both Connor and Jessica. She was relieved to hear Angel's voice and know he was okay, even if it meant she would have to spend another two hours trying to get Connor back to sleep.
Angel stood at the bottom of the stairs, his hands in his pockets, as Cordelia descended them with both children in her arms. He wanted to help her, but he was afraid he might hurt the children if he did so he just stood in his place.
Cordelia could tell something was wrong. "What's up, Angel? Is everything okay?"
Angel looked at his feet and shook his head without saying a word.
Panic immediately set in as Cordelia got to the bottom of the stairs, next to Angel. "What is it? What's wrong?"
Angel said nothing again, but instead turned away from her swiftly and made his way into the lobby.
Cordelia's eyes followed him and she felt her heart sink as she saw who the being was that Angel was standing next to.
"Good evening, madam." Holtz said, bowing in Cordelia's presence.
"What the hell is going on?" Cordelia asked, angrily. "Angel?"
Angel shook his head again.
Cordelia's first instinct was to run; to protect her children and run. So she did. But Angel was faster then her. He beat her to the door, and stood in her way.
"Cordelia…" Angel said.
"Angel, what is going on?" She begged to know.
"Don't make this harder then it is, Cordy…" Angel said, directing her back into the room.
"Make what hard?" Cordelia asked as Holtz came closer to her.
"This." Holtz said, pointing to both Connor and Jessica.
Cordelia shook her head, pulling both children closer to her chest. She knew what Holtz wanted. "No." She turned quickly to Angel. "Angel. Help me."
Angel looked down. "You need to understand, Cordy."
"Understand what?" Cordelia asked. "Angel, these are your children. You're just going to let him take them?"
A tear slide down Angel's cheek, and it broke Cordelia's heart. She didn't know what was going on, and she didn't want to find out. She just wanted to keep her family safe. "Angel?"
"I'm so sorry, Cordelia." Angel said, taking both children out of her arms and then slamming her into the wall and watching her body fall, unconscious. He kissed both Connor and Jessica on the head. "I love you both." He told his children.
"I will take good car of them Angel." Holtz said, taking the children from the vampire.
Angel nodded, wiping the tears from his eyes. "Go. Get out of here." He didn't watch as Holtz exited the hotel, but once he felt the man's presence gone Angel took off into the night as well. He couldn't bear the thought of what had just happened.
Gunn, Fred, and Wesley got back to the hotel two minutes too late. They entered the lobby to find Cordelia slumped over in a pile and the rest of the lobby empty. They rushed over to Cordelia.
"Cordy?" Fred asked, leaning the seer up.
"Cordelia? Can you hear us?" Wesley asked her.
Slowly Cordelia came to. "What? Wes?"
Wesley nodded. "It's us, Cordelia."
"Oh God!" Cordelia was up within seconds.
"Take it easy, Barbie." Gunn told her. "What happened?"
"Holtz! Jess! Connor!" Cordelia spat out.
Wesley shook his head. "No…"
"Holtz took them!" Cordelia was hysterical. "Angel let him!"
"No, he didn't know." Wesley defended the vampire. "He thought he had to."
"What?" Cordelia asked.
Fred picked up the crumpled up paper Angel had thrown on the floor. It had the prophecy written on it. She handed it to Cordelia. "Read this."
Cordelia read the paper over. "The father will kill the children." She looked up at Wesley. "What?"
"It's false. Wolfram and Hart sent it to us. They spiked Angel's blood with Jessica and Connor's blood that they got from the doctor's office. Angel thought it was true. He thought he was going to hurt them, so he must have given them to Holtz because he didn't know what else to do." Wesley explained.
"Well then it's not true." Cordelia said, wiping her eyes. "So we need to find Connor and Jessica!"
"Damn right we do." Angel said, from the doorway, anger on his face. "That son of a bitch lied to me and took my family. Like hell is he getting away with that."
"You heard what I said?" Wesley asked.
Angel nodded, grabbing a sword from the closet, and kissing Cordelia on the head. "I'm sorry I hurt you."
Cordelia nodded at him. "Let's go get our babies."
Angel picked up the scent of Holtz and his children immediately. He led the group to the outskirts of L.A. and into thick woods. In the middle of the woods was a field. A field that Sahjhan, Lilah, and Holtz, with both Connor and Jessica, stood in. Jessica was hysterical, trying to bite anyone who came near her, but Connor just lay there, starring around, and not fussing. The group in the field turned as they heard Angel Investigations approach.
"Well, look who finally decided to show up." Lilah smirked.
"Give me back my babies, you evil bitch." Cordelia spat, tears in her eyes.
"Whoa, relax there killer." Sahjhan chuckled at Cordelia.
"Give them back to me!" Cordelia spat again.
Angel, Gunn, and Wesley all stepped forward, crossbows raised at the group in front of them.
"Why don't you listen to her and give me back my kids, and then after you all can have a nice conversation with my crossbow about how lying to a vampire is a bad thing to do." Angel sneered.
At the sound of Angel's voice Jessica calmed down in Holtz's arm. She propped her head up to see Angel and Cordelia and reached her arms out for them.
"It's okay, baby, Mommy's coming to get you soon." Cordelia said, trying to sooth Jessica.
"No she isn't actually." Lilah told them.
"You wanna bet?" Gunn asked. "I see three of us with weapons and three of you with…nothing?" He stepped closer.
"One more step and all snap their neck in two!" Holtz threatened.
"Gunn, don't move." Angel ordered.
Gunn stopped in his tracks and looked back at Angel, who only gave him a nod.
This time, Angel threw his crossbow down and took one step forward. "I want my kids back. I get what you're doing here, Holtz, you're trying to make me suffer, the way Angelus made you suffer. You want to kill me." Angel spread his arms out, exposing where his heart once beat. "Go for it. Just please don't punish my children, don't punish Cordelia."
Holtz looked down at the children in his arms, and then back up at Angel. He didn't move though.
"Please." Angel begged rummaging in his pocket, pulling out a stake and throwing it at Holtz's feet. "Kill me. Go ahead. I won't stop you, but give my children back to their mother."
"Angel…" Cordelia managed out between tears.
Holtz moved forward, seemingly ready to give the children back to Cordelia and kill Angel just the way he had wanted to for years.
"What are you doing?" Sahjhan asked.
"I…"Holtz began.
"No." Lilah said, as dozens of Wolfram and Hart snippers came out of the woods. "You stick to the plan. You do as your told and you stick to the plan."
"Like hell!" Angel charged, but was hit by a dozen or so bullets before he took more than two steps. He collapsed to the floor.
"Anyone else want to try?" Lilah said, her eyes narrowing on Fred. "Didn't think so. Alright, so the plan."
Sahjhan nodded, saying some words unfamiliar to Wesley or anyone else standing there. Then what looked like a portal opened. "This leads to the dimension ofQuortoth. It is the darkest of all dimensions, and the hardest one to find." He turned his attention to Angel. "So after this is over with, don't even try looking."
"No!" Angel managed, knowing what Holtz was going to do. "Don't!"
"I'm sorry, Angelus." Holtz smiled to see Angel in pain.
"Please!" Cordelia begged as she watched Holtz turn. She stuck her hands out. "Jessica!"
Just then one of Cordelia's new demon powers was discovered. A white light flashed from her hands and around Jessica. When the light hit Jessica the child's face contorted, her large K-9 teeth grew into fangs, and Angel watched as his daughter, with the face of the demon inside of her father, bit into Holtz's arm full force.
"Damn it!" Holtz muttered, smacking Jessica in the head. "Just like your father. You'll be dead before we hit the ground." He then turned and jumped into the thing Sahjhan had opened.
The group watched helplessly as Sahjhan closed it, and he, Lilah, and the snipers all left Angel Investigations to their suffering.