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 49It had been a week since Spike's return, and so far no one knew the blonde vampire was back except for Jessica who had not told a soul about Spike, just like she had promised. Spike and Jess had spent almost every night in her office, talking until the sun would almost come up, about anything they felt like. Spike would tell her how he had spooked some of the people around the office during the day and how much he hated being unable to touch anything, and Jess would tell him how much she hated running Wolfram and Hart and how much she just wanted to get back to fighting all the evil in the world instead of cutting deals with it.
It was late and Jess was making her way into her office after yet another boring meeting. She unbuttoned her dark blue button up shirt and took it off, fixing the white tank top she worn underneath it. She didn't even bother turning around, she already felt his presence behind her.
"Spike?" Jess asked, running a hand through her long curly hair.
"Well, you're the only one who can sense a ghost around here, that's for damn sure." Spike told her.
Jess turned around, flashing him a gorgeous smile. "Maybe I'm just used to seeing you every night."
"That could be it too." Spike smiled back at her. He had grown very comfortable around Jessica the past few days, and it boggled his mind. Who would have ever thought he'd ever like anyone who was remotely like Angel? And Jessica definitely was a spitting image of her father when she wanted to be.
"So, how was your day?" Jess asked.
"Boring. There's bloody nothing to do around this place." Spike sighed.
"Don't have to tell me twice. I'm like praying for my mom to have a vision. I need to get out, because if I have to spend one more night in a meeting I'm going to pull my hair out."
"Wouldn't want that." Spike smiled.
Jess turned to Spike, a sly grin on her face. "Shut up invisible man."
"I'm not invisible, I just can't grab anything." Spike sighed. "Can't say I'm a fan of it."
Jess nodded. "If there's a way to fix whatever's happened to you, I'll find it."
"That means a lot." Spike said, and he meant it.
"Well…" Jess rubbed the back of her neck. "I should get upstairs. I'm sure my mom cooked dinner, I don't want to be on her bad side tonight so I better get up there before she gets mad."
"Hormones got her that bad?" Spike raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah." Jess nodded. "She's like on a warpath one minute, and the next she is hysterically crying. It's driving me crazy."
Spike just smiled and shook his head as he watched the young girl make her way to her elevator.
Cordelia was sitting at the small kitchen table in her family's penthouse reading a book when she heard the door open.
"Angel?" Cordelia called out.
"No, it's me." Jess said, entering the kitchen, surprised to find that Cordelia had not cooked dinner. The past four nights in a row Cordelia had gone on a home-made dinner spree and Angel and Jess had felt the brunt of it when both of them would walk in late from the office, and choose to just drink some blood over Cordelia's meals. "So, umm, what's for dinner?"
Cordelia looked up from her book, a smirk on her face. "Well, since I've cooked the last few nights and no one has bothered to eat anything I just assumed you and your father would manage by yourselves tonight."
Jess rolled her eyes as Cordelia's glance returned to the book in front of her. Cordelia's pregnancy had made her mood swings unbearable, and they were getting worse as each day passed. Both Jessica and Angel were walking around on tippie-toes, trying not to set Cordelia off, but it was looking like that was hopeless, seeing as how anything that was said to Cordelia would upset her in some shape or form.
"So…what are you reading?" Jess asked trying to change the topic of conversation to lighten her mother's mood.
"Just a baby name book." Cordelia said, a smiling creeping across her face as she leaned back in the chair, rubbing her still growing stomach. "I want to be prepared this time."
Jess smiled, glad to see her mother in a better mood, as she leaned against the counter. "Well, I like my name so you couldn't have done to bad last time."
Cordelia just smiled fondly, remembering the day Jessica had entered the world. It was a little over four years ago, but it seemed so much longer to Cordelia. So much had happened since then, so much had changed. "Well, I hadn't even thought of names when I was pregnant with you."
"Probably because you thought I was going to be an evil demon spawn…" Jess grinned, knowing all to well what we fate you have been had Angel not delivered her.
"Well…" Cordelia said, standing as quickly as her body would allow. "I'm still waiting on your father so we can decide on a name together."
"Where is dad?" Jess asked.
"Here." Angel's voice filled the penthouse as he rushed into the kitchen.
"What's up?" Jess asked. "You look like you just ran a marathon…and lost."
"We need to have a meeting." Angel said. "All of us."
"Why?" Jess asked.
"They bugged me." Angel held up a small microphone that he pulled off of his black suit jacket. "I was out answering one of your mom's visions when suddenly the entire army of Wolfram and Hart showed up."
Jess just nodded. "Oh…"
"What do you mean 'oh'? They put a tracker on me!" Angel was angry.
"Well, you did kill a client last week…" Jess reminded her father of Jimmy.
"So?" Angel said.
"Maybe they just want to keep an eye on you." Jess offered.
"Well, you're the boss! Tell them to stop tracking me and to leave me alone when I go out to do my work for the Powers!" Angel huffed.
"Fine." Jess put her hands up sarcastically in defeat. "Are we done now?"
"No." Angel said. "We need to have a meeting."
"Who?" Jess asked.
"All of us. They bugged Wesley too, he came with me. And they bugged Fred to make sure she wasn't plotting against them in the lab." Angel said. "We all want to talk, but it needs to be out of this place. They want to meet at the park downtown."
Jess nodded. "Okay. Get everyone together." She then made her way out of the kitchen to throw on a pair of jeans and a small tee shirt.
"Cordy, are you going to come?" Angel asked.
Cordelia nodded. "I am part of this team, right?"
But before Angel could answer her, Cordelia was already out of the kitchen.
Angel cursed himself silently for saying anything that would change Cordelia's mood. He loved that she was having his child, but he was just about done with her little tantrums and hormones. She seemed like a completely different person every other minute.
Gunn, Wesley, Fred, and Lorne were already at the park by the time Angel, Cordelia, and Jess arrived.
"Sorry we're late." Angel said.
"Yeah, mom had to stop and go to the bathroom." Jess added.
"Oh sure, blame it on the pregnant lady." Cordelia huffed.
Jess turned to face her mother. "Mom, you did have to go to the bathroom, I'm not blaming you…" But Jess didn't even bother finishing her sentence knowing that if she started a fight with Cordelia she would lose anyway.
"Anyway…" Fred said, trying to change the topic of conversation to save Jess from Cordelia's wrath.
"Right." Jess crossed her arms. "So you guys are all being tracked and recorded?"
"Well, not all of us." Gunn said. "Just your dad, Wes, and Fred."
"Why just you guys?" Jess asked Fred, Wesley, and her father.
Wesley shrugged. "I couldn't tell you."
"Probably because Wes went to help Angel with the vision, and last time Angel went out he killed a client." Lorne said. "Fred over here, I don't know why anyone would have to track her."
"Because she's our science department. I guess the Senior Partner's want to keep an eye on that." Jess said.
"Well. How do we know it's even the Senior Partners?" Gunn asked.
"Or that we aren't being tracked right now?" Wesley added.
"Nope." Fred said. "I did a reading of the area before we all got here. No one knows where we are…"
The screams were far away, but Angel and Jessica could hear them since they both had vampire senses.
"Dad?" Jess looked to her father.
"Yeah." Angel knew what his daughter was talking about without her saying another word.
Quickly, Angel and Jess took off from the park, into the woods, in the direction the distant screams were coming from.
"What the hell?" Gunn asked.
Cordelia just huffed, rubbing her swollen belly. "Who knows with those two?"
Jess and Angel came to a clearing in the woods to find the screams were coming from a girl who was under a werewolf's grasp.
"Damn it!" Angel turned to Jess. "Got any silver on you?"
"Um…no." Jess said flatly. "Resort to kicking its ass?"
"Sure." Angel shrugged, and then jumped on the werewolf's back.
Jess followed her father's lead, circling around the werewolf before lunging at it, and tackling both her father and the wolf to the ground. The werewolf took a few more counters on both Angel and Jessica, trying to rip them to peaces when suddenly Cordelia, and Wesley came out of the woods and into the clearing.
"Angel!" Cordelia panicked.
Angel looked up at his wife, fear filling the vampire's eyes. "Cordy! Get out of here!"
But it was too late. The werewolf had seen Cordelia. The wolf lunged at Cordelia, and Angel buried his head, he couldn't watch.
Jess however, reacted the only way she knew how too. She vamped out, knocking the werewolf out of midair, and far away from her mother. She then jumped on top of the wolf. "Some help here!"
The werewolf was too strong though and tossed Jessica into a tree before rising to its feet. It was Angel's turn to save the day, or night, this time. He quickly gave the werewolf two punches in the gut as Gunn, Lorne, and Fred joined Wesley and Cordelia in the clearing.
"Angel!" Lorne said, throwing the vampire his silver watch.
Angel grabbed the watch and drove it into the werewolf, causing it to drop to the floor and turn into a man. A dead man.
Angel sighed, making his way over to Jessica, and helping her to her feet. "You okay?"
"Been better." Jess smiled, rubbing her head.
Cordelia rushed forward, pulling both Angel and Jessica close to her, the best she could with her enormous stomach. "Are you guys okay?"
"Fine." Angel said, planting a kiss on Cordelia's forehead. "Cordy, I don't want you out here like that. You could have been killed."
Cordelia nodded. "I know. I shouldn't have yelled. But look, your both okay, and I'm okay…"
"And the girl got away." Jess said, taking a step away from her family.
"What?" Angel asked.
"The girl. The one the werewolf was attacking. She must have taken off once we got it off of her." Jess said.
"You're right…" Angel looked around, seeing no sign of the woman who was attacked.
"Was she bitten?" Wesley asked.
Jess and Angel looked at each other, and then down at the ground.
"Yes." Angel said.
"You're certain?" Wesley asked.
Jess nodded. "I can smell her blood…"
"We need to find her then, right?" Cordelia asked. "She was infected."
Angel nodded. "Me and Jess will go track her. The rest of you, head back to the office."
"No." Cordelia said.
"What? Cordy…" Angel started.
"Jess is hurt." Cordelia motioned to her daughter who had blood running down her neck. "She hit her head."
"Jess?" Angel questioned.
"I'm fine. I can come." Jess said.
"No you ain't." Gunn looked at the back of her head. "If you didn't heal so damn fast you might actually need stitches."
"Alright, I'll go track her. Cordy, get Jess home. The rest of you, we need to figure out what kind of werewolf this was and how we are going to stop this." Angel said before taking off in the direction the woman's trail was.
Gunn carried Jessica into her penthouse with Cordelia close behind him.
"Put her on the couch, Gunn." Cordelia said. "I'll go get the first-aid kit."
"Mom, I'm fine…" Jess started, but knew it was no use, Cordelia was on a mission.
"You gonna be okay, kid?" Gunn asked.
"Fine. Thanks, Gunn." Jess said.
Gunn nodded, and made his way out of the room, as Cordelia entered it, first-aid kit in hand.
"Sit up, let me see that head of yours." Cordelia said, managing to sit down on the floor the best she could with her huge belly.
"Mom, get off the floor." Jess said. "I'm fine…" She tried to sit up, but everything began to swirl, so she quickly collapsed back down onto the couch.
"You're not fine." Cordelia moved Jessica's head to expose the big, bloody, gash, right above her daughter's neck. "This is not good…"
"Just clean it up. I heal fast." Jess reminded her.
Cordelia glared down at her daughter. "Don't tell me how to clean a wound, I've been doing it a lot longer then you…" Suddenly Cordelia doubled over, hands grabbing at her stomach. "Ouch."
"Mom?" Jess panicked, sitting up quickly, and then falling back into the couch just as fast as she had gotten up. Her head was throbbing. "Mom?"
"I'm fine." Cordelia gave Jessica a tired smile. "The baby just kicked is all. Now come on, let me clean up that cut."
Jess moved slightly so Cordelia could wash and bandage up her head. After a few minutes Cordelia got to her feet.
"Done?" Jess asked, feeling the bandage on the back of her head.
Cordelia nodded, looking down at her hands. "I'm sorry…"
"For what?"
"For what happened to you." Cordelia said, motioning to Jessica's head. "If I hadn't been so stupid and jumped out then that thing wouldn't have gone after me and you wouldn't have had to protect me."
"Not your fault. I probably would have ended up with my head smashed into a tree regardless of if I was saving you or myself."
"And I'm sorry for my moods lately. I know I haven't been the easiest person to get along with."
"Not going to argue there." Jessica grinned.
Cordelia nodded, slowly standing. "Why don't you try and get to sleep?"
Jess shook her head. "I don't want to get up just yet, I still feel a little dizzy."
"Well, I'm going to head to bed. I'm tired and your little brother or sister likes to wake me up nice and early." Cordelia smiled down at her large stomach.
"Good night, Mom."
"Good night, Jess." Cordelia said, making her way into her bedroom.
Angel followed the scent of the woman who had been attacked to a small house on the L.A. boarder. He was amazed that the woman had been able to make it home as fast as she did, but he assumed it was because she had been so scared she probably didn't even realize how fast she was moving.
Angel sighed, not knowing how he was going to handle the situation at hand. He couldn't just knock on the door, it was past midnight, and he couldn't just hang around until the sun came up, he would burn to bits. He also knew he couldn't wait and come back the following night; the girl would have turned already. He decided Jess or Gunn would have to come back to the house the next day, somehow persuading the girl to trust them.
Angel took another glance at the address of the house so he would remember what to tell the others before he took off back to the office of Wolfram and Hart.
Gunn met Fred, Wesley, and Lorne down in Fred's laboratory after he dropped Jessica off. He entered to find the body of the man who had once been the werewolf on a lab table, and Fred and Wesley and another man in a white jacket were standing over it.
"So, what we looking at?" Gunn asked.
Fred turned to face Gunn, running a hand through her hair. "Not sure. So far we think it's a rare species…"
"It's a werewolf." Gunn stated the odvious.
"But there are many different kinds of werewolves. Think of them like dogs." The other man in the white lab coat turned around, and Gunn could see it was Knox, Fred's assistant who just happened to drool over everything Fred did.
"Right…" Gunn said.
"At any rate, we need to get this girl under our observation." Wesley said, ignoring Knox. It was clear to see that the ex-watcher did not like the new scientist that Fred spent so much time with.
"Isn't that what we sent Angel to do?" Gunn asked.
"If he found her in time." Wesley said, checking his watch. "The sun is almost up."
"Which means that if Angelcakes didn't find this girl then tonight she will be shedding some fur." Lorne said, making a face. "I wouldn't want to be in her company for that."
"Well, Angelcakes found her." Angel entered the lab. "But I couldn't get her out of the house without causing a scene. But we do need to get this girl back here, and fast. We need to keep her safe, we need to make sure she understands what's happening to her."
Wesley nodded, understanding. "So one of us will head over there today, and be calm about this whole thing."
Angel nodded. "I was thinking Jess could do it. Just incase the girl tried to fight whoever went over there. Does anybody know how she is doing?"
Gunn shrugged. "I dropped her off upstairs earlier. Cordy was going to patch her up."
"I'll go check on her. In the mean time, I want you guys figuring out everything we can about this werewolf. We need to keep this girl safe."
Wesley nodded. "We'll get on it."
Spike came through the wall of Jessica's penthouse to find her on the couch, watching TV. He smiled at the sight of her and watched her for a few moments, before she picked her head up and smiled back at him.
"What are you looking at?" Jess asked.
Immediately Spike noticed the bandage on the back of her head, and the dry blood on her neck. He damned himself for losing his vampire senses when he had become a ghost, otherwise he would have known she had been hurt from the minute he entered the room. "What happened?"
"Little accident." Jess shrugged, slowly sitting up. 'Werewolf, but I'm okay."
Spike reached out a hand to touch her but his fist went right threw her. "Damn it." He said, quickly retracting his hand.
"Still can't touch anything?" Jess asked.
"No." Spike looked down. "It's bloody hell."
"Well, the good news is that if my Dad ever walked in here and found you, he couldn't touch you."
"That is good news."
"You know you shouldn't be up here, right?" Jess grinned.
Spike nodded. "I know. I just got so bloody bored floating around in your office like a big floof."
Suddenly Spike and Jess heard the front door of the penthouse swing open.
"Hide." Jess told Spike, who quickly floated into the wall, clearly just in time, as Angel walked in.
"Jess?" Angel looked around curiously. "Who were you talking to?"
Jess shrugged. "Nobody. It must have been the TV."
Angel nodded, noticing the TV was on. "How's your head?"
"Better." Jess said, unwrapping the bandage Cordelia had put on earlier. "Mom patched me up."
"Where is your mom?" Angel asked.
"Sleeping." Jess said. "She was tired."
Angel nodded.
"Did you find the girl?"
"Kind of. I followed her back to her house, but the sun was coming up and I didn't have time to try and break in and all…" Angel sighed.
"I'll take care of it. Write the address down and then go get some sleep. You look beat."
Angel nodded, handing Jess the paper he had written the address on. "You sure your head is okay?"
Jess smiled up at her father. "I'm good."
Angel nodded again and then made his way into his bedroom. Once the vampire had closed the door, Spike's head popped back out of the wall.
"So, looks like we are going werewolf hunting?" Spike asked, a smile on his face.
"That we are." Jess said, standing and grabbing her coat, and then making her way to the door, Spike a step behind her.
Angel entered his bedroom tired and worn out from his adventure the night before. He was glad to see Cordelia resting, her chest rising with each breath she took. She needed the sleep, and anyone who came within five feet of her could see that.
Angel sat down on the bed gently, slowly taking off his shoes, and then stripping down to his boxers. He tried to get under the covers quietly so he did not wake Cordelia, but she rolled right over, resting her head on his chest as he lay down.
"You're back." Cordelia said, half asleep, her eyes still closed.
Angel nodded. "Go back to sleep…"
"Did you get the girl?" Cordelia asked, ignoring Angel. She was comfortable, but had slept enough that she wasn't about to just roll over and close her eyes.
"I found her." Angel sighed, knowing Cordelia was going to pursue the topic of the girl until she had gotten all the information she wanted. "But I didn't bring her in."
Cordelia's head immediately shot up. "What do you mean?"
"I mean don't worry about it." Angel smiled at his pregnant wife. "Everything is under control, now can I get some sleep?"
Cordelia smiled back at Angel. "Sure. I'm going to go eat breakfast, I'm starving." She slowly managed her way out of bed.
Angel couldn't wipe the grin off of his face as he watched Cordelia waddle out of their bedroom, she was beautiful. He closed his eyes, the vision of her still burning in his mind. However, a minute later, he shot out of bed as the sounds of Cordelia's screams filled the room.
Jess pulled the beautifully expensive car that was provided to her by Wolfram and Hart up to the address Angel had written down for her. Spike sat beside her, admiring the house.
"It's cute." Spike said. "Didn't even think houses like this existed in L.A."
"Well, they do." Jess stuck her tongue out at the ghost of a vampire. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
"Why can't I come?" Spike asked.
"Because if she decides to push you, and can't, I'm pretty sure she will freak out." Jess told him, getting out of the car
"Why would she push me?" Spike asked again, but got no answer as Jessica had already closed the door, and was now making her way to the house.
Jessica knocked on the door and a few minutes later a young woman with blonde hair slowly opened the door. The woman looked tired, her hair messy, and her eyes struggling to open in the bright sunlight.
"Can I help you?" She asked Jess.
"Yeah, actually…I'm um…Jessica Angel, I run a law firm…" Jess took out her card and handed it to the woman. "Maybe you've heard of us…Wolfram and Hart?"
The woman took the card and studied it, then studied Jessica's face. "This is a joke, right? You're like seventeen, you can't run a law firm."
Jessica straightened out her gray button up shirt. "I…it's a long story, but anyway, let me just cut to the chase. Were you out at the park last night?"
The woman's eyes narrowed at Jessica. "Why?"
"You were attacked." Jessica stated. "I was there…"
The woman looked hard at Jessica again. "What do you want?"
"You to come with me." Jess said.
The woman took a deep breath. "Why?"
"Because I'm probably one of the only people who can help you."
The woman thought for a moment and then nodded. "Okay. Let me just get dressed."
Five minutes later the woman was following Jessica out to her car. The woman got in the backseat, and Jessica got in the driver's seat, turning to Spike.
"Spike this is…" Jess looked back at the woman.
"Nina." The woman in the back seat said.
"Spike." Spike smiled back at the blonde who had a small resemblance to Buffy.
"Great." Nina huffed. "Someone want to explain to me why I'm actually going with you people? Why I trust you?"
Spike smiled at Jess. "Because this one has a way with people…" He joked, reaching for Jessica's hand, but suddenly, realizing he wouldn't be able to touch it anyway, pulled away.
Jess and Nina both noticed Spike's original intensions. Jess looked back at Nina nervously. "My dad will explain everything when we get to the office."
Nina nodded, leaning back into her seat with her arms folded.
Angel rushed out into the living room to find Cordelia standing in the center of the room, her mouth opened wide.
"What?" Angel panicked, making his way quickly to Cordelia's side, and leaning down, putting his hands on her stomach. "Is it the baby?"
"Jess." Cordelia said, looking at the empty couch. "She's not here!"
Angel looked at the couch, and then back to Cordelia, relief soothing his body as he stood. "That's what you're screaming about?"
"Well, let's see…my daughter was out here last night, blood gushing from her head, and now this morning she is gone…yeah that's exactly what I'm screaming about!" Cordelia snapped.
"She's fine." Angel said, sitting down on the couch. "She went to go get the girl from last night."
"She what?"
"I found the girl's house, but I couldn't wait around for her. It was almost morning by the time I got there, and unless you wanted me to turn into a pile of dust, I couldn't have hung around there much longer."
"So you sent her out there, after she was hurt last night?" Cordelia threw her arms out, her hormones flying.
Angel sighed, not even bothering to answer; he knew he would lose the battle anyway.
"Get dressed." Cordelia told him. "We're going downstairs and waiting for Jessica to come in, and if she doesn't in about ten minutes you're dead, buddy…"
"He is dead." Jessica said, making her presence known as she entered the living room. "And the girl is down in your office, dad. You should probably get down there and explain everything to her."
Angel nodded, silently thanking Jessica for walking in when she did; he then quickly made his way into his bedroom to get dressed.
"I'll be down in my office." Jess said, moving to the elevator. "You should probably get dressed too, Mom, this girl will probably want another woman in the room when dad explains everything to her."
Cordelia nodded, watching her daughter make her way out of the room. Angel was still in trouble for letting Jess go out with her head in the condition it was in, Cordelia would just have to wait and yell at him later for it.
Jess entered her office, to find Spike standing in the middle of it. He turned and smiled at her.
"So the werewolf took it all well then?" Spike asked. "She must have anyway, if you're back here to fast."
"I didn't tell her she is a werewolf." Jess said, leaning against her desk. "I'll leave that up to my dad."
"Good plan."
"I've been thinking."
"About what?"
"About you?"
"Me?" Spike raised an eyebrow, trying to hide his smile.
Jess nodded. "Well, more about your condition."
"What condition?"
"The one that makes you unable to touch anything."
"Oh, you mean me being a ghost?" Spike sighed.
"Yeah." Jess nodded. "I've been thinking. You might be a ghost, but even ghost's have freewill, right?"
Spike thought for a moment. "I guess so. Why?"
"Well, what if you wanted to touch something so bad that you put all your energy on it? Focused on it until you could grab it."
A small smile broke out across Spike's face. "You think that would work?"
Jess held up a small coffee cup, and then placed it on her desk, a grin dancing on her lips. "Worth a try."
Angel entered his office, with Cordelia two steps behind him, to find Gunn, Wesley, Fred, and the blonde woman from the park all sitting in there.
"Angel, this is Nina." Gunn said, introducing the woman.
Nina stood, a half smile on her face. "Nice to meet you, Angel."
"You too…" Angel smiled back, he then turned to Cordelia. "Nina, this is my wife, Cordelia."
"Nice to meet you." Cordelia said to Nina as she made her way to the chair next to the one Nina had just been sitting in.
"Nina was just telling us a little about herself." Wesley said, handing Angel a file. "Everything on her case that Fred could gather is here."
Angel nodded. "Thanks."
"We'll, it was nice chatting with you, Nina, but we all really need to get back to work." Fred said, before leading Gunn and Wesley out of the room.
"So…" Angel said, sitting down at his desk as he motioned for Nina to sit back down. "Do you know why you're here, Nina?"
"I was attacked. I was told you guys could help me, I guess." Nina said, sitting.
Angel nodded, reading over everything Fred had written down about what they had discovered about the werewolf that had bitten Nina. "Well, yeah. I was…well we all were there when you were attacked."
"You what?" Nina was confused.
"We were there." Angel told her. "We tried to save you."
Nina began to nod slowly after a moment. "You and your daughter, you guys jumped out, tackled the...the dog that attacked me."
"That dog…well…" Angel started. "It wasn't a dog."
"Then what was it?" Nina asked.
"A…" Angel looked at Cordelia who just shrugged, clearly not sure how to explain anything to Nina either. "It was a werewolf."
Nina snorted. "Yeah, okay."
"It's the truth." Cordelia turned to Nina. "I know it sounds crazy but…"
"Crazy isn't even the word." Nina stood.
"You're senses have been heightened." Angel stood as well. "You smell everything so much better, hear so much clearer."
Nina nodded after a minute. "But so?"
"So we're telling you the truth." Angel told her.
"Bull!" Nina was almost in tears.
Cordelia stood, wrapping an arm around Nina the best she could with her stomach in the way. "You have to trust us."
"Why?" Nina shot back. "You're telling me that monster's are real!"
"Because they are." Angel said. "Werewolves, ghosts, demons, vampires…"
Nina shook her head. "No."
Angel nodded. "Yes."
"Prove it!" Nina snapped.
Angel looked to Cordelia and then to Nina, and then at his hands. "If I do, you don't move."
"Fine." Nina said, crossing her arms.
Quickly, Angel looked back up, his game face on. He watched as the horror made its presences known on Nina's face, and then he quickly morphed back to his human form. "See? I'm a vampire."
"This is a joke…a bizarre joke." Nina said, backing away from Angel.
"Wish it was." Cordelia put a hand on Nina's shoulder to stop her. "But it isn't. Things that go bump in the night are real."
Nina felt the claw marks on her back and sighed, all the events of the previous night and everything Angel had just said crashing down on top of her. She laughed bitterly. "I guess you're daughter and her little boyfriend were right, you people are probably the only ones who can help me."
"Boyfriend?" Angel screwed up his face. "What boyfriend?"
Nina shrugged. "I don't know. Some guy, he seemed older then her, bleached out hair, gorgeous cheekbone?"
"What?" Angel's tempered flared.
"Is that what's really important now?" Cordelia gave Angel a look.
"No. Nina, go on out to my front desk tell Harmony that Gunn and Wesley should bring you downstairs." Angel told her.
"And what are they going to do with me down there?" Nina raised an eyebrow.
"Well…cage you." Angel told her, with an uneasy smile. "Just for tonight, and every other night there is a full moon, so you don't hurt yourself or anyone."
Nina nodded after a moment. "Thank you." She then made her way out to the front desk.
Angel looked at Cordelia, anger rising in his eyes. "Nina said Jess has a boyfriend. A bleached haired, old man of a boyfriend."
"Angel…" Cordelia tried to calm her husband down. "Spike's gone. Maybe Jess has a boyfriend who just looks like him?"
Angel gave her a look and she knew just how stupid she had sounded so she said nothing else as she followed him down the hallway.
Spike looked at the cup sitting on Jessica's desk and sighed. If he could he would have smashed the cup into a million pieces.
"I can't bloody pick it up!" Spike snapped. "No matter how hard I try I just can't pick it up!"
"Well maybe if you didn't get so angry…" Jess offered, leaning against her desk and rolling her eyes. She had watched Spike try and pick the cup up for a good hour and a half and was starting to get really bored.
"It's not like it has feelings." Spike shot back.
Jess shrugged. "Fine. Maybe I was wrong, maybe it doesn't matter how hard you want something, you're a ghost so maybe you just can't touch anything."
"Maybe I just don't want the cup bad enough." Spike turned to her.
Jess snorted, throwing her arms out. "Then pick something you do want and try that. I didn't sit here for an hour-"
But Jessica was cut off by Spike's lips on hers. When they broke apart he smiled down at her. "See, if I want it bad enough I can touch it."
Jess nodded slowly, her eyes meeting Spike's as he went in for another kiss. This time, however, they were broken up by a big, booming voice.
"What the hell is going on in here?" Angel's angry voice bounced off all the walls of Jessica's office.
Jessica and Spike quickly turned to see both Angel and Cordelia standing at the door to Jessica's office.
"Dad…" Jess could see the rage in her father's face. "Dad, it's not what it looks like."
"Really?" Angel moved closer to them. "Because to me it looks like Spike here is the real deal now, kissing my daughter, and now I have every reason in the world to hit him."
"Go for it, blockhead." Spike dared Angel.
All the anger that Angel had built up for days when Spike had been there came to a boil, and the dark haired vampire hurled himself at Spike, only to find that he went right through the blonde vampire.
"That was bloody brilliant." Spike smirked.
"You…you're still a ghost?" Angel was confused as he got to his feet.
"Yup." Spike smiled. "You daughter was just testing a theory about me being able to touch things if I want them bad enough. And guess what, Nancyboy? I wanted those gorgeous lips of hers enough to feel them."
Angel clenched his jaw. "Shut up, Spike."
"And what the hell are you going to do about it?" Spike mocked Angel. "I'm a ghost, remember?"
Angel nodded. "I remember." He then made his way over to Jessica's desk, rummaging through her drawers.
"What the hell are you doing?" Jessica shot at her father.
Cordelia pulled Jess close to her, letting her daughter know it probably wasn't the best time to tempt her father.
Angel pulled what he had been looking for out of the bottom drawer, and held it up. It was the amulet that Spike had worn to save the Hellmouth, the one that had brought Spike to Wolfram and Hart.
"And what in the bloody hell are you going to do with that?" Spike asked. "Wave it in my face? Oh, I'm so scared."
"Just my own theory." Angel smirked. "If I smash this does the ghost of the vampire go bye-bye?"
"Dad…" Jess started.
"Angel…" Cordelia joined her daughter, not wanting her husband to do anything stupid.
But it was too late, as Angel dropped the amulet on the floor, and stepped on it, breaking it into millions of pieces.
"Dad!" Jess rushed forward, only to see a swirl of particles and fragments come out of the broken amulet, and suck Spike right back into it's essence.