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 33
The group entered back into the lobby to find that Gavin had sprawled out a bunch of papers all over the table.
"What is this?" Angel asked, pointing to the papers.
"The ritual's passages and everything we are going to need to reopen Quortoth." Gavin explained.
"What ritual?" Fred asked. "There was no ritual, that demon just said some words and the portal opened."
Angel grabbed Gavin by the collar and had him up in the air in ten second flat. "Are you messing around with us? Because we don't have time for that if you catch my drift."
"Angel…" Cordelia said, grabbing his arm and forcing him to lower Gavin.
Gavin straightened out his collar and then looked up at Angel. "I'm not messing around with you, and what that demon opened was not a portal."
"Then what the hell was that thing?" Gunn asked.
"A rip in time." Gavin explained. "There are no portals to Quortath because it is such a horrible dimension. What that demon did was rip time right opened."
"Well then we better start ripping, don't you think?" Angel asked angrily.
Gavin nodded. "I agree." He moved over to the books but was stopped by Wesley.
"Let's get one thing straight here." Wesley told the lawyer. "I'm in charge here, you try one thing and you'll be dead faster then you can blink, do you understand?"
Gavin nodded. "Yes."
"You better." Angel growled in his ear. "Because if my kids aren't back here by tonight I'll have no problem drinking you to the bone."
Gavin swallowed hard and loosened his tie. "Well, let's begin." He went through some papers until he found what he needed. "We need to set up some candles, in a star shape."
"A pentagram." Angel corrected him with a sigh. "Great."
"What?" Gunn asked.
"A pentagram. Sign of evil." Lorne told him. "Boy, I'm going to need a sea breeze for this one." He quickly made his way into the kitchen.
Gavin looked up nervously. "I'm just doing what the paper says. Look if you don't believe me..." He handed the paper to Wesley.
Wesley read the paper and nodded. "He's right."
"Then let's get on it." Angel ordered.
Gunn and Fred nodded and went to the closet to get some candles out. They returned quickly and handed them to Wesley who set them up.
"Now what?" Gunn asked.
Wesley looked back down at the book. "We recite some lines."
"That's it?" Cordelia asked, kind of shocked.
Wesley nodded. "That's it." He then began reciting the lines from the paper.
Everyone in the room held their breath, hoping that this was the answer they had been looking for. When Wesley finished reading they all glanced at each other; hope resting on all their faces.
Nothing happened. The hope drained from their faces.
"Say it again." Gunn told Wesley. "Maybe you messed it up."
"I didn't." Wesley scanned the papers in his hand.
"Well, maybe it takes a little while to work." Angel said, trying to keep the hope alive.
They all knew he was wrong; Cordelia was just the first to say it.
Cordelia collapsed onto the floor, crying heavily, anger in her voice. "They're gone! Just forget it! They're gone and they aren't coming back! My babies are gone!"
Angel rushed to her side. "They're not gone, Cordy."
"Yes they are!" She shot back, pushing him away.
"Cordy…" Angel's eyes begged her to calm down.
Suddenly the anger slipped from her face and was replaced with fear and sorrow. She collapsed into Angel, sobbing uncontrollably. "Angel, my babies are alone. I don't know if they are hungry or cold or crying or tired or sick…I don't know anything. I'm their mother and I can't help them."
"I know, Cordy…" Angel held her. "But we are going to fix this. We will find them. I promise." He looked over to Fred. "Why don't you and Fred go make a nice cup of coffee for yourselves, okay?"
Cordelia nodded and Fred came over, comforting the distraught mother as the two girls made their way into the kitchen.
Once Angel knew they were in the kitchen, he turned his attention to Gavin. He immediately picked the lawyer up by his collar. "It didn't work."
Gavin nodded as best he could. "I don't know why."
"Well, what did I tell you before? Now you're going to pay for coming here and acting like you were a gift. Helping us. You didn't help, you made it worse." Angel shook Gavin.
"Angel, let him go." Wesley told him. "He tried. These passages are legitimate."
"I don't care." Angel growled, still not putting Gavin down.
"He didn't do this, Angel. Lilah and Holtz and that demon did." Wesley reminded him.
"And Wolfram and Hart. The same company this little lackey works for." Angel said.
"Angel, man, let it go. He can't help us." Gunn told him.
Angel sighed and put Gavin down. "Get out of here, and don't you ever come back or I'll kill you."
Gavin nodded and shuffled out of the hotel as fast as he could.
Angel made his way over to the couch, burying his head in his hands. He had to think about all that had just happened. He was going to find his kids, he knew that much, he just didn't know how.
Suddenly, a spark flew out of the air, over the pentagram.
"What the hell was that?" Gunn asked.
Angel jumped up from the couch. "I don't know. Maybe it's working. It happened right over the pentagram didn't it?"
Wesley was equally as excited as Angel. "It did! It must be working!"
"What's working?" Cordelia rushed out of the kitchen, followed by Fred and Lorne.
"The thing!" Gunn pointed up. "It sparked. It works!"
Cordelia rushed to Angel's side, throwing her arms around him. "Our babies are coming home."
Angel smiled, wrapping his arms around Cordelia's waste, and looking up at the sparks flying over the pentagram. They were waiting for their children.
Suddenly a huge spark flew over the group and an enormous demon fell out. It stood about 11 feet tall, with huge claws and teeth.
"Well, that isn't my kids." Was Angel's reaction.
Surprisingly, Wesley was the first to react, tossing Gunn and Angel's weapons. The three men dueled it out until the demon lay on the floor in a heap of blood and guts.
"Damn…" Gunn said, wiping sweat from his forehead. "What was that thing?"
"Something from that Quortoth." Fred informed them. "We must have torn time open, so now anything from that place can get to this plan."
"Well, that's not good." Lorne stated the obvious.
"We need to close it back up." Wesley rushed over to the papers Gavin had left.
"What? No!" Cordelia grabbed Wesley's arms. "My babies are still in there. We can't close it up."
"Well, we can't find a way in, Cordelia, and we can't keep letting these demons and things from that place come into our world." Wesley argued his point.
"Yeah." Gunn agreed with Wesley. "Did you see the size of that thing? Who knows what else could be coming out next?"
"My kids are trapped in there with those things!" Angel took Cordelia's side. "You expect me to leave them in there after we know what kind of monsters are in that place?"
Gunn dug his hands into his pockets. "Of course not, man. It's just…"
"If you are going to figure out how to get in there you better do it fast!" Lorne cut in.
"Exactly." Gunn said.
"No! I mean now!" Lorne pointed to see more sparks flying all over.
Angel, Gunn, and Wesley drew their swords, ready to fight the next demon, but this time a boy fell through. A teenager, he looked about eighteen, blonde, blue eyes, had the Tarzan look going on.
"What the hell…" Gunn muttered lower his sword along with Wesley and Angel.
Angel moved to help the young man up. He stretched out his hand, and the young man took it, but to everyone's surprise, the boy flipped Angel over onto his back, and jumped up quickly, ripping the sword out of Wesley's hand, and shoving it at Angel's throat.
"Whoa." Angel put his hands up in defense from his spot on the floor, eyeing everyone not to move a muscle. "You don't want to do that."
"Really? I think I do." The boy spat back at him. "Decapitation does kill a vampire, right?"
At these words, Gunn and Wesley charged at the boy, tossing him aside. He quickly got to his feet and knocked them both down, tackled Angel back to the ground.
"Get off of him!" Cordelia went to kick the boy, but he grabbed her ankle and tossed her right into Lorne and Fred.
The boy then fumbled in his pocket, and finally pulled out a long piece of wood. He raised the wood to Angel's heart. As he was about to stake Angel, however, more sparks flew out and a girl landed on the boys back, knocking him off of Angel.
The girl looked younger than the boy. Sixteen maybe, she had long dark, curly hair, and tan skin. She also had huge brown eyes that were so dark they almost appeared black.
Cordelia rushed over and helped Angel up, and the group watched the two teenagers from the other world go at it.
The boy and girl circled each other for a moment, and then the boy lunged at the girl, but she countered, tossing him aside like a feather. He scrambled to his feet and pulled the wood out in front of him, clearly still wanting a piece of Angel, however the girl stood between them.
"Think about this…" The girl told the boy. "You don't want to do it."
"How the hell do you know what I want?" The boy shot back. "And how the hell did you get here anyway?"
"Oh please, like you're so hard to track." The girl snorted, in a way that reminded Angel of Cordelia.
"Get out of my way." The boy said.
"Yeah, like that's gonna happen." The girl said.
"Fine." The boy charged at the girl and drove the piece of wood he had in is and right into her gut.
She gasped for air, and Angel watched as her face contorted and fangs grew. She was a vampire. "Wrong spot, dumb ass!" The girl shoved the boy backwards. "Boy, after all that stuff you learned about killing vampire's you don't even know where one's heart is." She yanked the wood from her side and relaxed her face back to its human form.
"You're not a vampire." The boy shot at her. "And I wasn't trying to kill you."
"Well, that's news to me." The girl rolled her eyes.
Angel had to laugh silently at that comment. This girl, whoever she was, was exactly like Cordelia. Then it hit him. He remembered those dark eyes, that hair. But it couldn't be possible. Could it?
"I don't want to kill you, so get out of my way." The boy told her.
"Not happening." The girl countered.
"You don't know what you're doing." The boy said, rage growing in his voice. "You're a child!"
"Technically I'm older then you, just this whole being immortal thing, it really stunts your growth." The girl tossed her arms out.
"Why do you defend him!" The boy motioned to Angel. "You know what he is!"
"What I am." The girl said.
"You're not like him. You're not a monster." The boy argued.
"I'm just like him. It's in our blood. Mine and yours." The girl gave a little grin that Cordelia could recognize from anywhere.
"You're my little sister, I don't want to kill you." The boy said.
"But you will." The girl seemed to know the boy to well, because when he lunged at her she stepped aside, pulling him backwards and holding the wood to his throat. "Are you done yet?"
"You won't kill me." The boy gasped.
The girl stood there for a moment, and then sighed, throwing the piece of wood to once side of the room, and tossing the boy to the other. "Get out of here."
"He'll kill you if he knows you stopped me." The boy told her.
"I know." The girl looked down at the ground.
The boy nodded slowly before heading out the door of the lobby.
The girl sighed, running her hand through her hair. She turned back to the group of shocked AI workers. "I'm sorry about that-"
The girl didn't get a chance to finish as an arrow came flying threw her chest, knocking her to the ground.
The group looked up to see an aged Holtz standing in the doorframe holding a crossbow, with the boy standing next to him. "Come now, Angelus. You wanted to save your children, well save them." He shot another arrow at the girl on the floor, this time through her leg. "I don't think you can save them." He then turned and exited into the sunlight with the boy next to him.
Cordelia was the first to understand what Holtz had meant. She rushed forward, cradling the girl in her arms, trying to stop the bleeding from the two arrows. "Angel! It's Jess! This is Jess!"
Angel knew it was, he quickly helped Cordelia carry his daughter over to the couch.
"We have to stop the bleeding." Cordelia panicked.
"Jeez, what a mom." Jessica sat up. "I'm fine. I'm immortal, you guys do remember, right?" She smiled her infamous sly smile.
"It is you." Angel felt tears form in his eyes as he threw his arms around his daughter. "You're alive."
"You're old." Gunn stated, shocked.
Jessica laughed. "Yeah…well Quortoth time is a little different then time here. Hours here, are months there." She winced a little as she pulled an arrow out of her side.
Cordelia pulled her daughter close, crying onto the young girls shoulder. "There's so much I missed, so much we need to talk about."
Jessica just nodded slowly, but her eyes did not leave her father. "It was him." She said.
Angel knew what his daughter meant. "Connor."
Jessica pulled away from Cordelia. "Yeah, that was him." She stood up next to her father, mimicking the stance he held without even realizing it. "And we need to find him. We need to save him from Holtz."
"Holtz didn't look like he had a problem with Boy Wonder." Gunn snorted.
"He doesn't. That is the problem." Jessica smirked back. "Like I said, we need to find him."
"We will go." Wesley offered.
"Don't try and bring him back." Jessica said. "He won't listen. Just see if you can find where he and Holtz are staying."
Wesley nodded as he led Gunn, Fred, and Lorne out of the hotel. They understood the family needed time to talk.
"He's older then you." Angel stated simply.
"Not really. I'm immortal, I age differently then others, so number wise I'm older, but really he is." Jessica explained. "But that's not what's important."
"He tried to kill me." Angel said.
"He doesn't know. Holtz poisoned him." Jessica told them. "He told him everything you did as Angelus, all the evil."
"Why didn't he poison you?" Angel turned to face his daughter.
"Because I wouldn't let him. I couldn't remember you guys, but I remembered the love you had for me. Holtz couldn't take that from me." Jessica sighed. "Plus, when he found out that I was a demon like you…well he couldn't deal. He tossed me aside, cast me out."
"What?" Cordelia was shocked.
Jessica shrugged. "I didn't care. I didn't like him, anyway."
"What…what are you exactly?" Angel asked, remembering the vampire face Jessica had worn earlier.
Jessica shrugged. "A little bit of it all, I guess. I'm a vampire, but not really. I can walk in the sun, I can eat food or drink blood, I can breathe in oxygen, or I don't have to. I have a heart beat."
"So you're like half and half?" Cordelia asked.
Jess nodded. "I guess you could say that, half human, half vampire."
"But Connor…?" Angel asked.
Jess shook her head. "No. I mean, he's a demon, I'm sure of that. He's got demon strength, but other than that he's as human as anyone else."
Angel sighed. "This doesn't make any sense. Why…how did you get back here?"
Jessica pointed to the pentagram. "You let us. Connor tracked a demon through here, and I followed him. I had a feeling it was a way out."
Cordelia stood, joining her family. She laid her hand on Jessica's shoulder and felt a chill go up her hand from her daughter's cold skin. "Well you found us."
Jessica shrugged Cordelia's hand away. "Yeah. Now we've got to find my brother."
Suddenly a huge spark flew across from the pentagram and another demon jumped out.
"But first I think we gotta close that up." Jessica said, catching the sword Angel had thrown to her.
Cordelia watched as father and daughter fought side by side. Champions. Together. She was in shock to have her family suddenly thrown back to her the way they were, but she was glad they were all safe. What she didn't understand was why Jessica seemed to be giving her the cold shoulder and connecting more with Angel. Granted, he was her father, but she was her mother. It cut Cordelia deep, but she wouldn't let it bother her right now. Right now they had to focus on getting her son back.