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 32

Angel sat in what had once been Jessica room. He hadn't moved in three days. Ever since the night Holtz took his children away. He blamed himself. He had cost his family a life without each other. Now it was time for him to pick up the pieces. He had to save his family.

Cordelia sat in the rocking chair in what had once been Connor's room. She hadn't moved in three days. Not since the night Holtz had taken her children away. She was numb. She couldn't blame Angel because he had done everything he could to protect them. When he thought he was going to hurt his children he gave them up, then to save them he offered his life. She wasn't angry at him, she was angry at Holtz and Wolfram and Hart and that demon, and all the bad things in the world.

Gunn, Wesley, and Fred sat downstairs, cleaning weapons. They didn't know what else to do with themselves anymore.

"Maybe someone should go talk to them." Fred said.

"What would we even say?" Gunn said, wrapping an arm around Fred. "Hi, sorry your kids got jacked, but why don't you come downstairs because the world kinda still needs you?"

Fred nodded. "Well, it's the truth."

Wesley shook his head. "It's only been three days."

"And we still haven't found anything on this Quortoth to even help find Jessica and Connor." Gunn added.

"There is nothing written about it in the texts. It might as well not even exist." Wesley told them.

"Well it does." Angel climbed down the stairs. He looked a mess. His hair was all over, and his shirt was half buttoned. "We need to find my kids."

"Angel." Fred smiled. "Good to see you."

Angel nodded. "I sat in Jessica's room. I looked at her things. She can't be gone. She has a life and a family to come back to. So does Connor. We have to find them and bring them home."

Wesley nodded. "Tell us what we can do to help."

"You can start by getting all the information on this Quortoth place, and I don't just mean from books, use all the sources we have." Angel told them. "Go talk to Lorne. See if he's picked up anything from his clients."

"We did that already." Gunn told him. "He's been out working his clients for info since…well…"

Angel nodded. "Okay, then Wesley and Gunn, I want you to go work the streets ourselves. Anyone that can help us."

Wesley and Gunn nodded.

"Good to have you back, man." Gunn said as he and Wesley exited.

"What can I do, Angel?" Fred asked, hoping he wouldn't give her the assignment she had been dreading.

But he gave it to her. "Go get Cordelia. She would want to be involved."

"Don't you think you should? She is your girlfriend." Fred said, trying to get out of it.

Angel shook his head. "I don't want to upset her more than she is, and I think if she sees me she will be."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because it's my fault they are gone." Angel looked down.

"No it's not. You did what you thought was best. Cordy is not mad at you."

"Please, Fred, just get her."

Fred nodded reluctantly, but made her way up the stairs.

The knock on the door startled Cordelia. She had been used to the quietness of the room, she had been used to hearing nothing, feeling nothing. She closed her eyes, still rocking in the chair she had sat many nights feeding both Connor and Jessica in.

"Come in." Cordelia said quietly.

The door slowly swung open and Fred entered.

"It's me Cordy." Fred said.

Cordelia looked over to the door and nodded. Her face was tearstained, and her makeup was everywhere. This was not your typical Cordelia Chase face; in fact Fred didn't think she had ever seen someone look this bad. "Hey." Cordy said weakly.

Fred said nothing, she just rushed over to Cordelia and hugged the seer tightly. Both girls stayed like that until neither had any tears left in them. When they were finished Fred was the first to talk.

"I'm so sorry, Cordy." She said, holding her friends hand. "But we are going to fix this."

Cordelia nodded. "I hope so. I don't know if we can."

"We can and we are going to." Fred assured her. "That's why I'm here actually. Angel sent me up to get you. To tell you we are going to find Jess and Connor."

"Why didn't he come tell me himself?" Cordelia said, crossing her arms.

"He was afraid you were angry with him, that you blamed him. He thought he would make you more upset if he came up here. He wanted me to come bring you downstairs, if you want to."

Cordelia nodded, standing up and inhaling deeply. "I've done enough sitting around and being depressed. I want to find my babies."

"Good." Fred gave a little smile, and led Cordelia out of the room.

Angel was sitting on the floor in the lobby with all of Wesley's books thrown around him when Cordelia and Fred entered. Angel immediately looked up as the smell of Cordelia's coconut shampoo filled the room.

He was waiting for her to start screaming, to punch him, to slap him, to stake him. Angel was waiting for Queen C to come back. He was ready for everything except what he got. Cordelia quickly made her way over to him and threw herself on him, crying hysterically. He held her close, rocking her gently.

"Cordy…it's going to be okay." He whispered into her, trying to fight back his own tears. "We are going to find them. It's going to be okay." He kissed her lightly on the head. "I promise, okay?"

He felt her head nod and he closed his eyes, rocking her more. Fred took her cue and left the couple alone. She thought maybe she would go check in with Lorne and see how everything was going.

Lilah sat at her desk playing with a pencil. It had been a long, boring day in the office. Everything had been boring since Angel had basically disappeared. She smiled to herself, knowing she had caused the do-gooder of a vampire to shut down. If this didn't get her a promotion nothing would. Suddenly there was a knock on her door.

"Come in." Lilah said.

The door opened and there stood Gavin, hands in his pockets. "Boss wants you in his office."

Lilah stood with a smile. Here it was, time to get her promotion. "Great."

"Just so you know, I'll beat you in the end." Gavin told her. He had wanted the promotion as much as she had.

"I doubt it." She shot back, exiting her office.

Gavin wasted no time. Once Lilah was down the hall he immediately started going through her paperwork. Gavin had a plan, he knew how to make everything Lilah had done backfire; he just needed to find what he was looking for.

Gunn and Wesley had no luck in finding anyone to help them get into Quortoth. Every connection they had been to had either never heard of Quortoth or did not even want to try to get into the dimension. Gunn and Wesley walked back to the hotel slowly.

"He's gonna be pissed we didn't find anyone to help." Gunn said, digging his hands deeper into his pockets.

"He can't be. We tried." Wesley told him. "Now we are just going to have to figure out a way in by ourselves."

"You heard all those people we talked to. Everybody kept saying for us not to mess with this place."

So what are you saying?" Wesley asked quickly. "That we leave Jess and Connor in there and just forget about them?"

"That was a low blow, man." Gunn said. "You know I loved those kids. They were like my niece and nephew."

Wesley nodded. "I'm sorry, I know. It's just been a long day."

"Yeah." Gunn agreed as they made their way into the garden of the hotel.

Fred knocked on the one room of Lorne's club that hadn't been demolished by Holtz. The demon opened the door dressed in a silk robe and with a martini glass in his hand.

"Hey Fred." Lorne said, tiredly. "What bring you around here?"

"Just wanted to check in to see if you've heard anything from your clients about well…anything." Fred said.

Lorne looked down at the ground, and shook his head. "I'm sorry, kiddo. Nothing's come off anybody about Angel's kids." He looked back up at Fred. "How are they doing anyway? Cordy and Angel?"

"Better." Fred said. "They both came down stairs finally. They want to find Connor and Jess."

"Don't we all." Lorne said. "Well, I haven't gotten anything yet, but I'll see about the next few clients that come in. If I hear anything I'll be over to that hotel faster then butter on bread."

Fred nodded. "Thanks Lorne."

"Sure things sweetie." Lorne said, as he watched Fred walk away from the door.

As Fred made her way out of the ruins of the club a small man in what Cordelia would have called an "amazing" suit passed her. Fred watched as he turned into what was left of the club. She continued walking, not realizing how important the man she had just passed was.

Wesley and Gunn entered the hotel to find Angel sitting on the floor with Cordelia in his arms. She was asleep.

"Anything?" Angel whispered, not wanting to wake up Cordelia. She had cried herself to sleep, the tearstains drying to her face.

Wesley and Gunn both shook their heads.

"Nothing." Gunn told him in a whisper, also not wanting to wake Cordelia. "We tried everywhere. Some never heard of the Quortoth place."

"And if they had, they didn't want anything to do with helping us." Wesley added in a whisper.

Angel sighed, picking Cordelia up and placing her gently on the couch. He then motioned Gunn and Wesley to follow him into the office where they could talk a little louder.

"This is not good." Angel said, closing the office doors. "I need to find them. They're my kids. I don't know if they are cold or tired or hungry. I need to find them."

"And we will." Wesley assured him. "We'll just have to do it the hard way. We will have to make our own way."

"But how?" Angel asked, sitting in Wesley's chair.

"Maybe that dude that helps Buffy with everything." Gunn suggested. "You know…Gills."

"Giles." Angel corrected, then looked up at Wesley. "You think he could help?"

Wesley shrugged. "Worth a shot."

Angel nodded in agreement as the office door slowly opened and Fred stepped in. She immediately stood next to Gunn who wrapped his arm around her.

"Hey." Fred said. "I figured y'all were in here when I saw Cordelia out on the couch asleep."

Angel nodded. "Yup, all in here."

"Did you get anything?" Wesley asked her, trying to avoid looking at Gunn's arm wrapped around her.

Fred shook her head. "I checked with Lorne. He said he would let us know if he heard anything."

Angel banged his fists on the wall, causing Cordelia to jump up from the couch. "Damn it!"

"Angel?" Fred was worried.

A tear fell down Angel's face, as he stormed out into the lobby, going immediately for the weapon cabinet.

"Angel, man, what are you doing?" Gunn asked, equally as worried as everyone else in the room.

Angel pulled out a sword, admiring it. "I'm going to kill those son of a bitches who took my kids."

"Angel…" Cordelia put her hand on his arm but he pushed it away.

"No, Cordy. I messed up. I lost our kids, Cordelia, I lost them!" Angel clenched his jaw. "And now I'm going to kill everyone who helped me lose them. I'm gonna kill those son of a bitches!"

"Hold on, cowboy!" Lorne entered the hotel. "Those son of a bitches might be your only hope."

"What are you saying?" Angel asked.

Lorne stepped aside to reveal Gavin Parks standing behind him.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Angel growled.

"Hold on there, Angelcakes!" Lorne stepped back in front of Gavin. "We should probably go talk in the office." He turned his attention to Gavin. "Make yourself at home, Mr. Parks."

Gavin nodded and sat down as Lorne led the group into Wesley's office. Once they were all inside he shut the door behind him and motioned for the group to keep their voices down.

"What the hell is going on?" Angel whispered as loudly as he could.

"Relax, Angel." Lorne tried to calm him.

"Relax?" Angel barked. "That son of a bitch out there is part of the firm that helped my children get kidnapped into some hell dimension. You relax!"

"Angel!" Lorne said. "Listen to me. He came to me. He wanted my advice on what he should do."

"Regarding?" Wesley questioned.

"Regarding Connor and Jess." Lorne said.

"What do you mean?" Cordelia rushed into the conversation. "What about them?"

"The little snub wanted to know if he would get what he has been working for if he helped you. He wanted me to read his future." Lorne explained.

"What does he want from it?" Fred asked.

"Probably a promotion at Wolfram and Hart. He figures if he can expose Lilah's plan and cause it to backfire then he can get the job he's been fighting her for." Angel concluded.

"Bingo." Lorne snapped his finger.

"Well, will he get what he wants?" Gunn asked.

Lorne shrugged. "I don't know. I can't read into the future of evil. I work for the Powers."

"So what did you tell him?" Cordelia asked, nervously. Lorne had given her hope in finding her children and now she was afraid he was about to take that hope away.

"I told him yes." Lorne said. "I wasn't going to tell him I didn't know. He's our only hope in finding Connor and Jessica."

Cordelia threw herself around Lorne, tears forming in her eyes. "Thank you, Lorne. Thank you so much."

Lorne smiled down at her. "My pleasure, sweetie." He turned his attention back to the rest of the group. "Now, let's go have a good conversation with Mr. Parks."

Everyone agreed and followed Lorne out of the lobby immediately, except Cordelia who grabbed Angel and pulled him back in, shutting the doors behind them.

"I need to talk to you." She told him.

"What?" Angel asked, hurriedly.

"Angel, this is great that Mr. Evil wants to help us, but what if it doesn't work. I mean what if this is all part of Lilah's plan?"

"Lorne said it wasn't." Angel tried to pull away, clearly eager to talk to Gavin.

"Angel…" Cordelia called him back.

"Cordy, look, you're right. We probably can't trust Gavin." Angel pulled her closer to him. "But we have to try. He could be the answer to getting Connor and Jessica back."

"And what if he isn't? What if he makes things worse?"

"Well, then we'll know he was not the answer." Angel kissed the top of her head. "But we've got to try."

Cordelia nodded, and Angel grabbed her hand, leading her into the lobby.