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 43Buffy and Angel quickly made their way through the sewers. Neither had talked much, but it was a comfortable silence, like they used to have when they patrolled in Sunnydale together.
Finally Angel stopped, looking down at the tranquilizer-gun he was carrying. "Why are we even wasting our time in here?"
"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.
"Angelus can walk in the sunlight now, he'll be above ground. Maybe you should just go, track him. I won't be any help until tonight." Angel looked down.
"I'm not doing this without you. Angelus is in your daughter's body. I'm not going to be the one to put him down. It has to be you." Buffy stood so Angel was forced to look her in the eye.
Angel nodded, he understood what Buffy meant. "We should get back to the hotel."
Cordelia found herself over the toilet in the downstairs bathroom. When she was pregnant with Jessica it had only been for one month, she didn't know how she was going to handle the next five months. She sighed, running a hand over her bump of a stomach, and leaning against the wall. She was starting to show now.
"Hey in there, can you stop beating you mommy up?" Cordelia asked her unborn child. "You've seen how crazy it's been around here, getting sick to my stomach every morning is the last thing I need." She smiled down at her belly before standing and making her way out into the lobby. She entered to find that Angel and Buffy were back.
"We decided it would be better to wait until tonight to go after Angelus." Angel told the rest of the group in the lobby, wrapping an arm around Cordelia as she came out of the bathroom.
"Well, I've got the spell ready." Willow said. "So once we get Mr. I-Like-To-Kill-Everyone in here then we are good to go."
Buffy laughed at Willow. "We'll have him by tonight."
"Maybe you won't have to wait." Wesley said, his eyes falling on the front door.
Angelus entered the lobby with a huge smile on his face. "Hey boys and girls, how are we this morning?"
"Peachy." Buffy said, looking at Angel.
Angel shook his head. He didn't want Buffy to attack Angelus, he wasn't sure if the sanctuary spell worked on slayers, and the last thing he needed was Buffy with a headache.
"That's good." Angelus smirked. "Sanctuary spell. I can feel it, smart move. I'm actually looking for a certain slayer, but not you, blondie."
"Faith?" Cordelia raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah." Angelus shot in Cordelia's direction. "You know where she is?"
"Not here." Connor said, from the balcony.
Angelus grinned up at Connor. "Well you would know, wouldn't you, lover boy?" Angelus turned to the door. "Well, I'll catch ya later then." He then exited.
"Why would he want Faith?" Cordelia asked.
"Maybe because she tried to kill him?" Gunn suggested. "Just a wild guess."
"Well, where is she now?" Fred asked, turning to Connor.
"Out." Connor said, making his way to the front door. "Don't worry about her, she's a big girl." He then exited.
After a beat, Angel turned to Lorne. "Angelus will be back. If he can't find Faith, he'll come back. Lorne, you need to take the spell off."
"What?" Cordelia's eyes grew wide. "No, bad idea. You take that off and we aren't safe."
"We're not safe anyway." Angel cupped Cordelia's check with his hand. "If we're going to get Jess back we have to get rid of the spell."
Buffy nodded in agreement. "He's right, Cordelia."
"Well of course you can agree with him." Cordelia's eyes began to fill with tears, and all the emotions she had been trying so hard to hide the past few weeks came to a boiling point. "It's not your child's souls that's missing, or your child's body that is inhabited with the spawn from hell itself! I might not be able to get my daughter back, does anyone understand that?"
"Cordy…" Angel tried to comfort her, but she slapped his hand away as he went to pull her close.
"No, Angel." Cordelia told him. "Just…no." She then quickly ran up the stairs.
The group stood there, dumbfounded for a minute. Then Fred broke them out of the trance.
"It's probably just her hormones." Fred said. "She is pregnant."
Angel nodded. "Right…I should go talk to her."
"And I'll take the spell off while you're doing that." Lorne said.
"Thanks." Angel then turned and made his way up the stairs.
Connor entered the warehouse Faith had told him to meet her in. It was dark in there, and even the light coming through the windows made it hard for him to see where he was going.
"Faith?" He called out.
"Right here." Faith said, leaning against some boxes. "Took you long enough to get here."
"Angelus stopped by the hotel. He was looking for you."
"Was he?"
Connor nodded. "He left when I told him you weren't there."
"See, I told you he was after me. He wants me dead." Phony-Faith leaned into Connor.
"I know." Connor said. "But I'll protect you."
"You need to get back to the hotel." Faith told Connor. "He could follow you here."
Connor nodded, understanding. "You'll be safe?"
Faith kissed Connor. "I'll be safe."
Angel knocked on his and Cordelia's bedroom door. He could hear her crying in there, but no other sound came from the other side of the door. He knocked again, still no answer. He sighed, and finally just opened the door to find Cordelia in a ball on the bed, crying.
"Cordy…" Angel started.
"Go away." Cordelia told him.
Angel sat on the bed, rubbing her back. "I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because I love you, and you're hurting. I'm not leaving you."
Cordelia closed her eyes, wiping the tears before rolling over to face Angel. "What if we can't get Jess back?"
"Willow's spell will work."
"I'm not worried about that, I'm sure it will."
"Then what are you worried about?"
"Actually getting Angelus back here without killing him, or one of us dying." She choked on the last part of her sentence.
"Hey, we're going to be fine." He put a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "Now come downstairs, everyone's worried about you."
"Angel…"
"Just come." Angel stood, helping Cordelia to her feet. He pulled her in for a hug. "Everything's going to work out. I promise you."
The sun was setting as Connor entered back into the lobby. Everyone was in there. Willow, Fred, and Lorne were sitting at the counter, Cordelia was lying on the couch, Gunn and Wesley were in the office, and Buffy and Angel had all the weapons out.
"What's going on in here?" Connor asked.
"We're going after Angelus." Angel said.
"Where's Faith?" Buffy added.
"It's not safe for her here." Connor said. "She's somewhere Angelus won't be able to find her."
"If you say so." Buffy said. "You ready to move Angel?"
Angel nodded, making his way over to Cordelia and kissing her on the head. Then he turned and followed Buffy out the door.
Angel and Buffy tracked Angelus to a little coffee house three blocks over. It was easy to find him because of the trail of bodies he had left. They entered the coffee house to find everyone drained in it, and Angelus sitting on the counter in the place, eating a bagel.
Angelus grinned when he saw Buffy and Angel enter and held up the bagel to them. "Boy, I tell ya, this is great. I can drink, eat, walk in sunlight…" He hopped of the counter. "Angel, your kid's got it made."
"I'm glad you think so." Angel held up the tranquilizer-gun.
Angelus just chuckled at Angel. "You can't put me down. Hell, you can't even stop me." Angelus then quickly jumped in the air, kicking Buffy right across the face, and knocking the gun out of Angel's hand.
By the time Angel and Buffy got to their feet, Angelus was long gone.
"Damn he's fast in your daughter's body." Buffy said.
Angel nodded. "We should get back to the hotel."
"Shouldn't we follow him?"
"He'll go back to the hotel, and without us their no one can stop him."
Buffy nodded, and followed Angel out of the coffee shop.
Angel was right, because Angelus went right back over to the hotel. He entered and surprised everyone inside.
"Mom?" Angelus called out, pretending to be Jessica.
Cordelia looked up, her eyes narrowing, and then a look of relief crossed her face. She stood. "Jess?"
Angelus nodded slowly. "It's me…Dad and Buffy, they fixed it. I don't know how, but Angelus is gone."
"He is?" Willow asked, surprised. "I guess I don't get to work my mojo then."
Cordelia's eyes filled with tears as she rushed forward, taking her daughter's body in her arms.
Suddenly Angel and Buffy busted through the front door.
Angel was shocked at the scene in front of him. "Cordy, don't! That's Angelus!"
Cordelia looked into her daughter's eyes, and saw that the stare she was getting did not belong to Jess, it was indeed Angelus. She tried to pull away, but Angelus yanked her forward.
"I figured you'd take the spell off." Angelus smirked, jerking Cordelia.
"Angel…" Cordelia cried.
"Shut up." Angelus jerked her again.
"How about you shut up." Gunn said, shooting the tranq into Angelus' leg. "Now that was a sweet shot."
Angelus immediately let go of Cordelia, and collapsed to the floor.
Angel helped Cordelia to her feet and over to the couch, then turned to Willow. "Get the spell going."
Willow nodded, and quickly began reciting the spell. With Faith at the warehouse, no one was upstairs to guard Jessica's soul, so Willow had no problem releasing it. When she finished the spell everyone looked up at her, and then back at Jessica's body.
"Did it work?" Buffy asked.
"It should have." Willow said.
"Looks like we are about to find out." Connor pointed to Jessica's body that was slowly starting to move.
"Jess?" Cordelia asked from the couch.
Jessica's eyes met Cordelia's, and Cordelia could have sworn they belonged to her daughter.
"Jess?" Cordelia repeated, standing and taking a step closer to her daughter.
Jess stood, brushing herself off.
"Jess?" Cordelia rested her hand on Jessica's shoulder.
Suddenly Jess jerked forward, grabbing Cordelia and lifting her off the ground. "Boy you really are dumb. Can't stay away from me for a second, can ya mom?"
"Angelus!" Angel went to lung forward.
"Don't move, or she really gets it this time." What was thought to be Angelus now smirked.
Connor raised the gun and stake to his sister's back. "How's it going Angelus?"
"Connor, don't shoot, the bullet will go right through, it will hit Cordy." Angel panicked.
"Sorry, dad." There was no emotion in Connor's voice. "The spell didn't work, Jess is gone. We have to kill him."
"You'll hit your mother." Angel stressed.
"It will be a sacrifice, but we will save the world." Connor narrowed his eyes.
Cordelia began to panic, and she felt the hand around her throat loosen, then she felt herself be thrown at Angel, and Jessica's body took off down the street. She knew it, the way Angelus had thrown her so that Angel would be able to catch her, the way she hadn't had her air cut off like she had last time Angelus grabbed her. Something was different about Angelus now.
"Why didn't it work?" Buffy shot a look at Willow.
Willow shrugged. "I don't know. It should have."
"It didn't." Angel released Cordelia. "Now we go to plan B. Everyone in the car. Arm yourselves how you like. We're going for the kill."
"Angel…" Cordelia pleaded.
"Cordy, we have to. He's going after Faith. Connor where is she?" Angel asked.
"Warehouse. I'll give directions as we drive." Connor said.
Angel nodded, leading the group out to the cars.
Cordelia was right when she thought Angelus had changed, because Angelus was gone. Willow's spell had restored Jessica's soul, but she couldn't let anyone know. She knew Faith was the Beast's master and the only way to stop Faith would be to allow her to believe Angelus was still around. Jess quickly made her way into the warehouse she had tracked Faith too, ready to play the part of Angelus one more time.
"Oh Faithy…" Jess called out.
Faith came out from behind some boxes. "Angelus?"
Jess nodded, hoping she would be able to get Faith to believe she actually was Angelus. "Were you expecting someone else?"
"I thought you'd be dead by now, or at least have your soul back."
"They tried, it didn't work." Jess lied to Faith. "So you're the beast master?"
"I take it you want me dead?" Phony-Faith said.
Jess shook her head. "No. I'm thinking its time I do gain a partner or two in this world. I just want to know how you pulled it off?"
Phony-Faith raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Sure. I mean, you got Angel Investigations to buy into it, though they aren't really rocket scientist over there…"
"It started last summer." Fake-Faith said. "Faith ascended, I got a ride back here."
"In her body?"
"Yeah. Problem was, the trip threw everything off, made Faith forget everything, and it actually put me to sleep. Angel Investigations tried to get Faith's memory back…"
"And woke you up." It was starting to make sense to Jess.
Faith nodded. "I was there, but Faith's got a strong will. I guess it's a slayer thing. I had to secure myself to this plane, so I slept with Connor. He's my connection to this world."
"Your connection?" Jess raised an eyebrow.
"Yes."
"So where's the real Faith?"
"Here, she's just not running the show."
Jess nodded. "So, what's the plan then?"
"You'll see in time, Angelus."
"Good." Jess vamped out and turned to Faith. "Because newsflash dumbass, Angelus has left the building!" Jess jumped at Phony-Faith, who was a little taken back, but managed to get over it in time to throw Jessica out the window.
Jess wasn't going down the four stories alone however, and quickly grabbed at Faith, pulling her out the window as well. Both girls landed on the hood of Wesley's car, as the rest of Angel Investigations showed up.
Jessica sprang to her feet as did Faith, and the two girls circled each other for a moment. Then Jessica lunged at Faith, but Phony-Faith dodged it, knocking Jessica to the ground. Jessica spun around and got back up.
"Knock it off, kid." Faith said. "You're out of your league."
"Where's Faith?" Jess growled.
Phony-Faith's eyes fell on the rest of Angel Investigations starring at her. It was time for her to put the act on again. "Knock it off, Angelus."
Jess looked around and realized why Faith was pretending that Jess was still Angelus. No one except Jess knew it that the Faith standing in front of her really wasn't Faith, and if Faith could get them to kill Jess then no one would ever know.
Angel picked up the tranq gun. "Faith, move! Let me get a clear shot!"
Jess looked at her father and then back at Faith. This was her one shot if she was going to stop this. "Five by Five, Faith." She lunged forward, vamping out, and sinking her teeth into Phony-Faith's neck. Before she could kill Faith however, Jess felt the tranquilizer go through her shoulder. She was out cold in two seconds.
Connor went to help Faith get up, but before he could she took off running. He followed her before anyone could stop him.
Angelus sighed as he and Buffy lifted Jessica's body up, chaining it together and throwing it in Wesley's trunk, still thinking it was Angelus.
"What are you going to do with him?" Buffy asked.
Angel shrugged. "I'll deal with him on my own. Thanks for coming."
Buffy nodded. "Of course."
"You should get back to Sunnydale." Angel told her.
"I know." Buffy said, giving Angel a hug. "I'm sorry for what happened to Jess."
Angel shrugged. "She was being a champion. Sometimes we make sacrifices."
Buffy nodded, understanding, her eyes then fell on Cordelia who was sitting in Angel's car with her head in her hands. "Take care of Cordy. She looks like she needs it."
Angel looked back at Cordelia and then nodded. "I will."
"Alright." Buffy then turned to the rest of the group. "It's been fun, but me and Willow really need to get back to Sunnydale."
"Good luck." Wesley told them.
"Thanks. You guys too." Willow said, before getting in her car that Buffy was already in, and driving back to Sunnydale, back to their own problems.
Angel and Gunn pulled Jessica's body down into the cage in the basement. Locking it up tightly, they made their way back upstairs. Everyone was sitting around the office, cleaning up.
"This place is a mess." Cordelia said, trying to talk about and think about anything except what was down in the basement.
"We'll clean it up, princess." Lorne rested a hand on Cordelia's shoulder, and to his surprise the seer turned into him and began crying uncontrollable. Lorne looked up to Angel for a little help.
Angel quickly moved, taking Cordelia in his arms. "Cordy…it's going to be okay. I prom-"
"Yeah, yeah you promise!" Cordelia snapped. "You promised me upstairs we would get Jessica back, remember?"
"Cordy…" Angel tried.
"Well she's not back, is she?" Cordelia asked, rage filling the immortal seers voice. "My daughter is gone."
"I'm down here!" Jessica's voice came from the basement and ran through the lobby. "And if somebody doesn't let me out of this cage, well…I'm gonna be pissed!"
Cordelia snorted. "Does Angelus really think we are that stupid? That we are going to fall for the him being Jess crap?"
Jess sighed in the cage, hearing what her mother had just said. Maybe it hadn't been her smartest plan to pretend to be Angelus earlier that night. She didn't stop Faith anyway, and now her family was probably going to kill her.
"Well, I guess my day can't get any worse…" Jess said to herself, leaning up against the bars of the cage.