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 44Connor had been tracking Faith for days. He hadn't found her, but now, as he stood in the field on the outskirts of L.A. he felt he was close to her.
"Faith?" Connor called out.
"I'm here." Faith seemed to step out of nowhere.
"I've been looking for you for days."
"I know."
"Where have you been?"
"I couldn't bare watching them kill Angelus. I know he was evil, but it was still Jessica's body." Faith lied.
"I know." Connor looked down, thinking of his sister. "We should head back to the hotel though. They probably did it by now."
Faith shook her head. "First, I have to ask you to do something for me, Connor."
"What?" Connor asked.
"Just promise me you'll help."
Connor nodded. "Of course."
"Good." Faith took his hand.
Jessica leaned up against the bars of the cage, counting the bricks in the wall across from her. She had been in the basement for a week now, she thought anyway, and no one had come down to see her. She realized that starving to death, at this point, was an option. But that aside, she didn't care too much about having no food or no visitors right now. She cared about Phony-Faith, and what she was planning on doing. Whatever it was, Jessica knew it wasn't good.
Jess looked around the cage one more time and sighed. She might as well try the screaming act again, she thought. So far, every time she did it, no one had come downstairs, but it was a worth a shot anyway.
Jess took a deep breath and then began her tantrum. "LET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" She paused and got no response so she tried again. "GUYS! PLEASE LET ME OUT OF HERE!" She paused once more and then huffed, sliding back into the corner. "YOU GUYS SUCK!"
Angel sighed in his bed. The cries coming from the basement had woken him up, and by Cordelia's heartbeat he knew she had woken up too.
"This is getting ridiculous." Angel said. "I can't take the screaming anymore. Every single night..."
Cordelia buried her head in his chest, still half asleep. "Angel, just let it go."
"I'm done." Angel got up. "It's got to end."
Cordelia sat up, panic flying across her face. "You can't kill him."
"Cordy…"
"There's still a chance we can get Jess back."
"Cordy, we've been searching for over a week to figure out a way to get her back. There's nothing. No soul, no Jess. We are just making this harder for ourselves by keeping him around."
Cordelia stood. "Then I want to see him. At least let me see my daughter before…" Her voice trailed off.
Angel nodded, wrapping an arm around the hump that was forming in her stomach, and leading her down to the basement.
Jess was surprised to hear the basement door open. She turned as best she could in the chains she was in to see who was coming down to finally visit her. She was relieved to see that it was just Angel and Cordelia.
"Thank God!" Jess smiled. "I thought you guys were gonna make me bite my way through these chains, and I gotta tell you, that so wasn't happening."
"Knock the crap off." Angel shot at Jess.
"What?" Jess was stunned for a moment, then recovered, realizing why her father was being so harsh to her. "Wait, you think…dad its me."
Cordelia's eyes were glistening with tears. "I'm sick of you pretending to be my daughter. You don't get to pretend to be her, do you understand? She was one of the most amazing people I have ever met and I am so sorry the world is going to have to lose her, but if that's how it's going to be you better knock this act off."
"Lose me?" Jess panicked. "Wait, no you can't kill me."
"I think we've waited long enough to." Angel said. It was breaking his heart to do this, even though it was only Angelus. It was still his daughter's face, and hands, and heartbeat but he couldn't wait any longer. He slowly unlocked the cage door.
"Dad…dad wait!" Jess panicked. "Come on, it's me, you know it's me."
Angel said nothing; he just pressed Jessica down onto her back with his knee.
"Dad!" Jessica's voice came out somewhere between a rasp and a scream. "Willow's spell worked! I swear it! I pretended to be Angelus to stop Faith! Dad!" Jessica felt Angel's knee dig into her back, and her eyes fell on her mother. "Mom…"
Cordelia saw it in her daughter's eyes, and suddenly it all clicked for her. Right after Willow's spell, when 'Angelus' picked her up it had been with less force, and when Connor had almost shot them both, 'Angelus' made sure Cordelia was okay. "Angel wait!"
"What?" Angel turned to Cordelia who had now come in the cage.
Cordelia cupped Jessica's face in her hands, and began to cry as she pushed Angel off of Jess and pulled her daughter close to her. "It is you."
Jess nodded in her mother's embrace, trying to hold back tears. "I'm sorry. Mom, I'm so sorry."
"Cordy…" Angel started.
Cordelia shook her head. "This is her, Angel. I know it is."
"You can't be sure." Angel said.
"Lorne!" Jess said. "Get Lorne. I'll sing. I swear its me."
Angel thought for a moment, unsure of what to do, and then turned to Jess. "You're staying in the chains until I can get Lorne down here. Cordy, I want you out of the cage while I'm not down here."
"Angel…" Cordelia started.
"Mom, just listen to him." Jess said.
Cordelia sighed, exiting the cage as she watched Angel go up the stairs to get Lorne.
Faith and Connor had made their way back to the warehouse that Angelus had met both Faith and the Beast in. Connor wasn't sure why Faith had led them back there, but he did as she asked anyway.
"So, you promised you'd help me." Faith turned to Connor.
Connor nodded. "Whatever you need."
"Okay." Faith took Connor's hand and sat down on a box, making him sit down next to her. "I know how much you hate magic, but we are going to do a spell."
"A spell?" Connor was confused. "What do you mean?"
"Just trust me. The world will be a better place after this is over with. People will be happy."
"Aren't they already?"
"Not like they will be when we are done." Phony-Faith inched closer to Connor. "Don't you want to be a hero?"
Connor smiled slightly at her as she kissed him.
Angel made his way down the stairs of the basement followed by a very tired Lorne to find Cordelia leaning against the cage and Jessica sitting against the wall in the cage.
Angel couldn't believe how much Cordelia had changed the past month. The curves of her body had begun to change as her stomach began to grow with the baby. His child, he reminded himself. She was glowing, and he had never seen someone more beautiful in his life.
"Okay, so what's the emergency that I had to be woken up?" Lorne asked.
"Me." Jess said. "I'm gonna sing."
Lorne put a hand up. "Thanks but no thanks. I've seen you in action, dark prince or princess, or whatever you want to go by."
"No, Lorne, it's me." Jess said.
"Jessica?" Lorne said sarcastically, raising an eyebrow.
Cordelia nodded. "It's her. I know it is, but Angel just wants to make sure." Cordelia shot a look at Angel that made him cringe.
"I figured you could read her." Angel said to the demon, and then tried to protect himself from Cordelia's eyes. "It's just a precaution."
"Yeah, yeah." Cordelia said, resting her hands on her stomach.
Lorne nodded. "Sure thing, Angelcakes. Let's get her singing and we'll know soon if it's really Beauty or just the Beast."
Jess stuck her tongue out at Lorne and then began singing an old Irish folk song. When she finished everyone looked to Lorne.
Suddenly Lorne's facial expression broke out into a smile. "My God! It is you!"
"It is?" Angel smiled.
"I told you!" Cordelia smiled up at Angel and then ran into the cage next to Jess. "Angel, come help me get her out."
Angel was at his wife's side in a second, taking the chains off Jess. "Jess, I'm so sorry."
"You were just making sure." Jess told her dad as stretched out her wrist.
Angel nodded, pulling his daughter in for a hug. "Where did you learn that song?"
Jess laughed. "From you, when you used to sing to me when I was a baby."
"You used to sing to her?" Cordelia raised an eyebrow.
If he could, Angel would have blushed. "Once in awhile. Just so she wouldn't wake you up when you were trying to sleep."
Cordelia pulled Jessica close to her, kissing her daughter square on her forehead. "Jess, are you okay?"
"Fine." Jess stood. "Are you okay?"
Cordelia nodded. "Should I not be?"
"What Angelus did to you…" Jess looked down.
But Cordelia lifted her daughter's chin. "It wasn't you. I know that."
"The last time it was me." Jess said.
"But you protected me from Connor." Cordelia told her daughter. "You didn't hurt me."
Jessica's eyes fell on Cordelia's leg, where Angelus had stuck the knife through. "He did though, in my body."
Angel laid a hand on her daughter. "Jess, it's over."
"No it's not." Jess told him, remembering all about Phony-Faith. "We've still got problems."
"What?" Angel asked.
Jess took a deep breath. "Involving the Beast's master."
"What about him?"
"Just get everyone together." Jess said, making her way up the stairs. "I want to jump in the shower."
Angel nodded to his daughter.
Connor entered the warehouse with an armful full of different ingredients. He found Faith sitting in the corner and dumped everything from his arms onto the ground in front of her.
"I got everything you asked for." He told Faith.
Faith nodded, eyeing the objects by her feet. "Good."
"So now what?" Connor asked.
"One more ingredient."
"What?"
Faith stood, kissing Connor. "You trust me, right?"
Connor nodded.
"Good. I need blood for this to work."
"Blood?"
"Cordelia's blood actually."
Connor's eyes grew wide. "Cordelia's blood? What?"
"She is carrying an evil thing in the form of your new sibling." Faith lied.
"The baby?" Connor raised an eyebrow.
Faith nodded. "This is the good thing we can do for the world. If that child is born, it will only bring destruction. We kill Cordelia, we save the world."
Connor shook his head. "No. I can't."
"Connor…" Phony-Faith grabbed his arm in desperation.
Connor yanked his arm from her grasp. "I can't! She's my mother."
"She can't be saved now. She is carrying that evil within her. It's to late." Faith pressured. "Connor, I know it might not feel right, but it has to be done."
Connor sighed, nodding slowly. "You're sure?"
Faith nodded. "I am."
"Okay, then lets go find her." Connor shrugged. Everything that was going on was confusing him and tearing him up inside. He didn't know which way was up anymore. All he did know was that he had probably lost his sister, and was about to lose his mother. His world was falling apart; Faith was the only thing he had left to trust.
Gunn and Wesley sat at the counter while Fred and Lorne were on one couch, and Cordelia was curled up on the other, resting her head on Angel's chest, when Jessica made her way down the stairs and into the lobby. She had showered, and her hair was still wet, hanging over her shoulders. She was in a white tank top with jeans on, both of her wrists were bandaged from the cuts and bruises she had sustained while trying to free herself from the cage the past week.
When she got to the bottom of the stairs she flipped herself onto the couch next to Cordelia and Angel.
"So you're back." Gunn broke the silence of the room.
Jess grinned her famous grin in his direction. "You know it."
"And you've got some information on the Beast's master?" Wesley asked.
Jessica knocked on her forehead. "Everything Angelus knew, I now know."
"So spill." Gunn said. "If we gonna kill this dude we need to know what he is and how to do it."
"It's not that simple." Jessica sighed.
"Why not?" Fred asked, knowing she probably didn't want the answer to her question.
"The master…" Jess looked down at her hands. "It's Faith."
"What?" Cordelia was shocked.
Jess looked up at her mother. "It's her, well not really her, just something in her body."
"She's possessed?" Angel asked.
Jessica shrugged. "Something took over her body. It was talking to Angelus in my head, when I finally put two and two together I realized it was Faith, only when I met Faith, she explained everything. Something took Faith over, and it wants to end us all."
Angel ran a hand over Cordelia's hump of a stomach, causing her to shiver. "You're sure?" He asked.
"Dad, I wouldn't lie about this." Jess stood.
Wesley nodded. "Of course, no wonder she wanted you dead…she took your soul, didn't she?"
Jess nodded. "Yeah, she did. Whatever took Faith over is plotting against us, I just don't know why."
"We need to stop it." Angel stood. "Is everyone ready for that?"
Lorne raised his empty glass. "Well, I'm not much of a fighter, I can stay here with Fred and Cordelia if you want."
Angel nodded. "That'd be good."
"Well." Wesley made his way to the weapons closet. "Let's go find this Fake-Faith."
Jessica looked to Angel and then nodded. "Let's go." She moved swiftly to the door and Angel, Wesley, and Gunn followed her.
Connor and Faith rounded the corner by the hotel right after sunset. Connor was a wreck, knowing what he was about to do, but Faith seemed to be unfazed by it. Connor fell inline a few steps behind Faith as they drew closer to the Hyperion Hotel.
Faith noticed she was walking to the hotel with no one by her side. She turned quickly to face Connor. "Come on." She took his hand. "The sooner we get this over with, the better."
"There's no other way, right?" Connor asked Faith. "I really have to kill Cordelia?"
Phony-Faith turned to Connor. "I told you, we can't save her. That baby is going to bring nothing but destruction. Look what it did to Jess!"
"Jess?"
"Where do you think that soul went? The child Cordelia is carrying made her take the soul and lose it." Phony-Faith lied. She knew the only way to get Connor to believe her was to lie to him. Lie so he wouldn't be able to see the truth, wouldn't be able to know she wasn't really Faith. She couldn't risk it, Jess could figure out she wasn't really Faith, so why wouldn't Cordelia, or Angel, or Wesley be able to figure it out? The thing that had taken Faith over was now starting to panic; she had to take out everyone who was a threat to her. She assumed Jess was already dead, so next on the list would be Cordelia.
Connor swallowed hard. "So you're serious then?"
Faith nodded, giving him a push closer to the hotel door. "Just go in there, get her, and get out. Don't tell anyone what you're plan is, they'll try and stop you. They won't understand."
Connor took a deep breath and then made his way into the hotel. When he entered he found Lorne sitting at the counter with a sea breeze in his hand, Fred over some books, and Cordelia laying across the couch, hand resting on the bump of her stomach. When the door opened however, she sprung up.
"Connor?" Cordelia questioned, relief in her voice. "You're back!" She stood, fixing her shirt. "Thank God!"
Connor only nodded at her slightly, avoiding eye contact with her. Even if what Faith said was true, it was still Cordelia.
Cordelia pulled Connor in for a hug, as a tear fell down her face. Her son was safe, and if the Powers That Be had anything to do with it so would be her daughter and husband.
"Well it took you long enough to get back, peaches." Lorne said to Connor as Cordelia released him. "You took off after Faith, and we were sure that was the end of you."
"Why would you say that?" Connor questioned, trying to figure out how he was going to get Cordelia out of there without Fred and Lorne trying to attack him.
"Well, because Faith's evil and all." Fred said.
"What?" Connor asked.
"She's the Beast's master." Fred told him. "Jess found out."
"Jess?" Connor was confused. "Jess is dead."
"No." Cordelia smiled at him. "We got her back."
"Where is she?" Relief washed over Connor. His sister was okay.
"Out with your dad and Wes and Gunn trying to find Faith." Cordelia sighed.
"Why?" Connor asked.
"Because she's the Beast's master." Fred repeated herself. "Well, not her, see something took her over, it's controlling her."
Connor shook his head. "No, she's not the one being controlled."
"Connor, Jess wouldn't lie about that." Cordelia placed a hand on his shoulder.
"But you would." Connor quickly grabbed Cordelia by the wrist and whipped her around, choking her.
"Connor!" Fred jumped up.
Connor whipped Cordelia around again, causing her to gasp for air. "Fred you don't understand, only Faith does. Cordelia's the evil one."
"What? No!" Lorne stood. "Faith lied to you."
"No she didn't. She's the only one who knows the truth." Connor said, as Faith stepped into the hotel lobby, right next to him.
Jessica, Angel, Gunn, and Wesley were about five blocks away from the hotel when it dawned on Jessica. They had been following Connor's scent figuring he could lead them to Faith, but it had actually grown weaker since they had left the hotel. They were going the wrong way.
"This is wrong." Jess turned to the men following her.
"What do you mean?" Wesley asked.
"Connor's scent is weaker here. We're following his trail backwards." Jessica said.
Angel took a smell of the air and nodded in agreement. "She's right."
"Well, we ain't tracking Connor, we're tracking Faith." Gunn said.
"But Connor can probably help us find Faith." Jess told him. "We should go back to the hotel. See if we can talk to him."
Angel nodded. "It wouldn't hurt."
Phony-Faith stepped around Connor and Cordelia, placing herself between them and Lorne and Fred. She gave a little smile to Lorne and Fred as they all listened to Cordelia gasp for air in Connor's grip.
"Let Cordy go, Connor." Fred said as calmly as she could. "Faith lied to you, Cordy isn't the bad guy here."
"I did no lie!" Faith shot back. "Cordelia has deceived you all."
"Jess told us everything." Fred threw back to Faith, catching the former slayer off guard.
"Jessica?" Phony-Faith asked.
Fred gave a grin. "Yeah, she's back."
"Surprise." Jessica's voice rang from behind Phony-Faith.
Fait whipped around to see Jessica come flying at her, knocking her to the ground. Faith countered, chucking Jessica across the lobby, right into Wesley, Gunn, and Angel. She then turned to Connor. "Connor, take Cordy out of here, I told you they wouldn't listen."
"Connor, don't!" Angel managed, trying to gather himself up.
Connor looked back and forth between Faith and Angel. He remembered all Holtz had said about not trusting Angel, maybe he had been right. Why would Faith lie to him? She had no reason, nothing at stake. Angel, on the other hand, had too much at stake for Connor to believe he would be honest. "Sorry, Dad." Connor then yanked Cordelia out of the lobby, followed by Faith.
Faith turned to the group in the lobby right after Connor had left, with a huge grin. "I tried to save you all, but I knew you wouldn't listen."
"You're evil, dumbass." Jessica shot at Phony-Faith.
"Only in your eyes. I could have saved you all, I had great plans." Phony-Faith said. "And don't think I'm some demon, I'm a higher being, and you will all burn for this. I'm going to save this world, create unity among man, and all I need is the blood of the one who was born of the vampire and who is not supposed to be."
"You need to be more specific, because all my kids are not supposed to be." Angel said, sarcastically.
"But this new one is the more vulnerable, the purest of them all because it has not been touched by humanity and the cruel ways of this world. Not yet." Phony-Faith explained.
"You really think I'm going to sit here now and let you kill Cordy and my new baby after you just said all that?" Angel stood.
"I do." Faith said, she then chanted something and was out the door.
Angel and Jessica quickly followed her, but to both of their surprises, the door wouldn't open. In fact, it wouldn't budge.
"Try a window." Angel told Jessica.
Jess nodded, and moved to a window, trying to open it. "It won't move. It's like we're…"
"Trapped." Wesley finished her thought.
Everyone stood for a moment, unsure of what was going on, and what they were going to do. Silence hung in the room.
"What Faith or whatever that was said…" Fred realized. "She chanted something before she left."
"She's right." Jess remembered.
"It must be some kind of spell." Wesley said. "To keep us locked in here."
"Well, it looks like it did the trick." Lorne said, nodding toward the window and door.
"We'll just have to reverse it." Wesley said, moving to grab some books off the counter. "Angel, can you remember what Faith said?"
Angel thought for a moment. "Yeah, vampire memory."
"That will take to long." Jess pressed. "Mom could be dead by then."
"We'll save her, Jess." Angel told his daughter, trying to remain as calm as possible. Truth was, he didn't know if they would be able to save Cordelia.
"You won't have any time if we wait for you to remember everything that thing in Faith said." Jess got closer to her father. "You know it."
Angel sighed. "We don't have any other options. I'll just write down what I can remember and we'll find the reversal spell for it and pray that we get to Cordy in time."
"Well good luck with that one." Lilah's voice boomed through the lobby as she stepped out of the office very much alive. "Because there is no reversal for that spell."
"Lilah?" Gunn questioned, clearly shocked. "You're alive."
Lilah shrugged. "Not really. I'm on a business trip."
"Where, from hell?" Jessica smirked.
"Where else would I have come from?" Lilah smirked back.
"What do you mean there's no reversal spell?" Angel asked. He was over the fact that Lilah had been brought back from the dead. That wasn't anything new to him, people were always springing back to life, what he was worried about was saving Cordelia and his child on the way, and that meant breaking the spell Phony-Faith had put on the hotel.
"I mean that the thing that took over Faith is no light weight. It's a high being or well I guess it was one, it isn't anymore. It's trying to make the world perfect I guess you could say. Stop all the bad things…" Lila explained.
"So this thing is actually a good…thing?" Fred asked.
Lila shrugged. "You could say that. The only way it can show its true form is to shed the blood of a pure soul that isn't supposed to exist." Lilah said.
"Mine and Cordelia's child. The one she is carrying right now." Angel sighed.
"That's right." Lilah smirked, leaning closer to Angel. "It must suck to be you."
Jessica had Lilah by the throat in two seconds flat. "So what are you doing here then, besides telling us we can't save that day?"
"Oh, you can. You just have to listen to me." Lilah pulled Jessica's fingers from her neck. "I'm here to cut a deal with you."
"What kind of deal?" Angel raised an eyebrow.
"A deal that will change your lives." Lilah grinned widely.