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 58
And Cordelia was right, it was time. Jess had gone and gotten Dr. Scott just as he was finishing up with Spike's hands. Spike seemed to be doing okay so the doctor quickly followed Jessica back to Cordelia's room. The doctor then checked out Cordelia and confirmed that she was right; it was time to start pushing.
"Okay, Cordelia, on my count." Dr. Scott said from the base of her bed.
Cordelia nodded, grabbing onto Angel's hand and trying to reach out for Jessica's hand.
"Oh, hell no." Jess pulled her hand away from Cordelia. "Last time you grab my hand you practically broke my fingers."
"Jess, just shut up and give me your hand damn it!" Cordelia snapped. It had been a long, painful day for the immortal seer, and she just wanted it to be over with.
Cordelia's tone scared Jessica a little bit, and the young girl found herself giving her mother her hand to squeeze. Jess then looked over to Angel to see her father mouth a "thank you".
"Okay, Cordelia, ready?" Dr. Scott asked.
"Let's just get this over with." Cordelia said through a clenched jaw.
Dr. Scott laughed to himself. "Right. Okay next contraction, Cordelia. Push. Ready? Go!"
So Cordelia pushed when the doctor said to, crushing both Jessica and Angel's hands as she did so. She then stopped when Dr. Scott raised his hand for her to hold on a minute.
"You're doing great, Cordelia." Angel cheered her on.
"SHUT UP!" Cordelia screamed at Angel as she bore down again. "Just shut up! You will never ever touch me again after this! NEVER!"
Angel just looked over at Jessica who had her famous grin dancing on her face at how her mother reacted to her father.
"Okay, Cordelia, one more big one." Dr. Scott told her.
Suddenly tears formed in Cordelia's eyes and she began sobbing uncontrollably. "I can't!"
"Cordy, you can." Angel told her. "I know you can."
"Not like you've got much of a choice, anyway." Jessica added.
Cordelia turned to her daughter, breathing heavily. "You're grounded for that."
"What? You can't ground me." Jess argued. "You're not in the right mind frame."
"Jess…AHH!" Cordelia screamed as the doctor told her to push again.
Suddenly, the room was filled with the sounds of a baby crying. Cordelia propped herself up on her elbows to see what the baby was.
"It's a girl." Dr. Scott held the child up so Angel and Cordelia could see her. "A beautiful girl. Six pounds, four ounces."
Cordelia began sobbing uncontrollably again as the nurse and doctor cleaned her new daughter up. She took Angel's hand in hers, and smiled up at him, noticing that the grin on his face was nothing like she had ever seen before. He was so proud. "We have another girl."
Angel nodded down, kissing Cordelia. "You did great."
Cordelia smiled and stretched out her arms as the doctor placed the small pink bundle into her arms, and then left the room. She looked down at the newest addition to their family. "Hi, baby girl, I'm your mommy."
The new baby opened her eyes and Cordelia could see that they were a light shade of hazel, with amber dancing around the middle. They were exactly like her own eyes. The baby however, looked like she had taken after Angel's hair, her's being dark and straight, and standing straight up. Her lips were curved slightly, and Cordelia knew that she would have the same gorgeous lips Jessica had, although she doubted this baby would have that devilish grin Jess possessed since the day she was born, this baby's small smile seemed to be genuine and full of care, as if she had to think before using it.
"She's beautiful." Angel whispered at his new daughter, and then looked up at his older daughter. "Jess, come see your little sister."
Jess sat down on the edge of Cordelia's bed as her mother moved the new baby in her arms so Jess could see her face. Jess smiled down at the baby who gave a small yawn when she focused on her older sister.
"We got a name?" Jess asked.
Cordelia looked up at Angel, remembering they had discussed names a few weeks earlier. "Erin. Erin…"
"Erin Doyle." Angel finished proudly, deciding that Doyle would be an appropriate middle name for his new bundle of joy.
Cordelia nodded, smiling at the choice Angel had made, as Erin seemed to squint up at her mother.
"This is perfect." Angel looked down at the scene in front of him. Erin, Cordelia, and Jessica all together. "My whole family. All my girls together."
There should be a boy here too, Jess thought to herself. Connor should be standing there with them. That was the real family, the one that should have existed. Suddenly, Jessica felt a sinking sensation in her stomach as she looked over at Erin. Everything about the new baby was so tiny, so helpless. As Jess looked down at her little sister she couldn't help but thinking about what she had allowed to happen to Connor. She couldn't save him. Would she be able to save Erin if the time ever came?
Jess was brought back from her thoughts by her mother's voice, soft, and calm now.
"She's so small." Cordelia looked down at Erin with a smile. "I can't believe you made mommy so fat all those months, sweetie."
Erin seemed to almost smile at Cordelia's words.
"I should go outside, tell everyone Erin's here, and check on Spike. Maybe go see what happened to Dana." Jess said abruptly. Watching her mother with Erin only made Jess think of Connor more. She needed to get some air.
"Yeah, good idea." Angel nodded as he watched Jess leave the room. He then took a seat next to Cordelia and ran his hand over Erin's head. "I can't believe she's finally here."
Cordelia nodded, holding back tears of joy as they threatened her eyes. "Me either."
Angel kissed Erin on the forehead, and then moved to give Cordelia a long, passionate kiss, that she only broke up so she could get a breath of air.
Once Jess was outside of her mother's room she slumped down against the wall, resting a hand on her wounded shoulder. The blood was dry now, but the pain still throbbed down her arm. She probably should have gotten it looked at earlier when Dr. Scott offered but she had more important things on her mind at the time, like her mother and Spike.
Spike. She should really go see how he was doing. She stood slowly, making her way down the hall to the waiting room where she found Lorne, Fred, Gunn, and Wesley sitting there.
Fred stood the minute Jessica entered. "Did your mom have the baby?"
Jess nodded. "A little girl. Her name's Erin Doyle."
Cheers broke out throughout the room. The entire fang gang seemed to be happy for Angel and Cordelia.
"When can we see the little cupcake?" Lorne asked.
Jess shrugged. "Head down whenever you want, I guess."
"Where are you going?" Wesley asked, locking hands with Fred.
"I was going to go check on Spike, then Dana." Jess told them.
"Spike's in the fourth room on the right." Lorne said, pointing.
"And Dana's downstairs. We brought her in." Gunn said. "Not like there is a lot we can do to help her."
Jess nodded, and made her way towards Spike's room. She would check on him first. As for Dana, she had an idea as to who could help the young slayer.
Fred, Wesley, Lorne and Gunn made their way down to Cordelia's room. Slowly they opened the door to find Cordelia in bed with a pink bundle and Angel sitting on the edge of the bed next to her. Both the vampire and seer looked up with huge smiles on their faces as they saw their friends enter.
"She's here." Cordelia said with her huge smile plastered on her lips.
Fred, Wesley, Gunn, and Lorne all swarmed around the bed to get a look at the latest addition to the fang gang.
"Oh, Cordy…" Fred smiled down at the new baby. "She's beautiful."
Cordelia nodded, speaking softly to the new baby in her arms. "Erin, say hi to your aunt and uncles."
Angel smiled as he watched Wesley, Gunn, Lorne, and Fred stare at his new daughter in awe.
"She's so small." Wesley said.
"She's only a little more then six pounds." Angel told his friends.
"Damn, and from the looks of Cordelia I thought this kid was either going to be as big as a thanksgiving turkey, or you were having three kids." Gunn joked.
"You do realize how not very funny that was, right?" Cordelia raised an eyebrow at the young lawyer.
"Uh…yeah." Gunn looked down at his hands, realizing he shouldn't have said that.
"But, also very true." Cordelia told him. "I've got a lot of work to do to lose this weight."
"Cordy, you just had a baby, are you kidding me?" Angel asked her. "You look beautiful."
"See if you're saying that in a few weeks, if I still look like this." Cordelia smiled at him.
"I will be." Angel kissed her gently.
"So, Erin, welcome to this crazy family." Lorne placed his hand on the baby's head and suddenly got a strange look on his face.
"Lorne?" Cordelia questioned. "What is it?"
"Just your new little girl." Lorne smiled. "The Powers are watching over this one. Believe that. She might have a little power of her own."
Angel smiled down at Erin. "I imagine she would."
Jess slowly entered Spike's room, not sure of the shape she would find him in. However, when she did see him, he was lying in bed, looking up at the ceiling, both hands reattached to his arms.
"Spike?" Jessica called out.
Spike looked over to see Jess standing at the foot of his bed. He noticed she was still in the same bloodstained shirt she had worn earlier. "Hey, luv."
Jess gave Spike a small half-smile, before taking the seat next to his bed. "How are you feeling?"
Spike held up his arms to show her his hands. "Well, it could be worse. Still got my digits."
Jess nodded. "Yes, you do."
"Thanks to you."
"I didn't do anything, Spike."
"Like hell you didn't. If it wasn't for you I probably wouldn't have even made it back here in time."
"I did what I had to." Jess sighed.
"You seem to do that a lot." Spike told her, noticing something was bothering the teenage girl. "So, did the cheerleader have the baby?"
Jess nodded. "Yup. I have a new baby sister. Erin Doyle."
"She cute?"
"Adorable."
"Why aren't you there with your family then?"
"I needed to get out of there. I needed some space to breathe." Jess told him truthfully.
"Reminds you of Connor, doesn't it?" Spike asked.
Jess studied the vampire's face for a moment. "How did you know that?"
"Well, new little sister arriving, older brother that no one except you and me and that bitch Eve know about. All of it falls in the category of siblings." Spike seemed to know Jessica pretty well.
"Connor should be here." Jess shook her head. "My dad should know he has a son. It's my fault."
"You need to stop beating yourself up over Connor." Spike sat up as best he could so his face could be closer to Jessica's. "You saved him. He's happy now, right? And you've done so much good for so many people, not just him."
Jess shook her head. "It doesn't matter."
"We all make sacrifices." Spike told her. "And we all do things we don't want to. It's the nature of the beast. It's called doing the right thing." He then leaned over and kissed Jessica.
Jess pulled away from Spike, starring deeply in his eyes. Eyes that held so much pain and so much regret. She then stood without saying a word. She knew who could help Dana she just wasn't sure if she could make the call. Now, after seeing the shape Spike was in, she knew she had to make that call. She had to save Dana and Spike, even if it meant losing the only man she might have had feelings for. Spike wasn't hers to keep.
Wesley, Gunn, Fred, and Lorne had left Cordelia's hospital room, leaving Angel and Cordelia along with Erin again.
Cordelia sighed, running a finger over Erin's cheek. "It's been a long day."
Angel nodded in agreement. As beat up and bloody as he looked, he felt ten times worse. He forgot how hard slayers could fight. "Yeah it has."
Erin made a face at Cordelia who smiled down at the baby. "Why don't you go get some sleep, Angel? I'll feed this one and then maybe she'll want to sleep and we can all get some rest."
Angel shook his head. "Cordy, I'm not going to leave you."
"Why? You'll be right upstairs. And you need to rest, you look hurt. Go get some blood in you and come back down in a few hours." Cordelia told him as she moved Erin to her breast.
"Cordelia…"
"Angel, I'm not asking you. I'm telling you. Now go." She smiled at him and gave him a kiss and then started to feed Erin.
Angel watched her feed his daughter for a moment, a look of awe on his face. Then he made his way out of the room.
When he was gone, Cordelia looked down at her daughter. "Finally, I didn't think they were going to leave us alone." She cooed at Erin. "You know, sweetie, everyone was waiting around here for you to come, but you took your merry little time. You came when you wanted to." She smiled at her daughter. "Don't ever lose that."
Erin starred at her mother with the same eyes that Cordelia had, as if she understood exactly what Cordelia was saying to her.
Jess made her way down to where they were holding Dana. She checked on the young slayer, who was still asleep, in her cell. The tranquilizers really must have put the slayer down for a few hours.
Jess sighed, taking one last look at the slayer, before making her way back up to her office. Once she was in her office she scrambled around all the paperwork until she found what she was looking for. A crumpled up piece of paper she had taken from the hotel right before they had moved into Wolfram and Hart. She scanned the paper until she found the phone number she was looking for. She held her breath, hoping the person on the other end of the line would be willing and able to help her.
Angel loosened his tie as he made his way into the penthouse. He felt bad leaving Cordelia downstairs like that, but it was what she wanted so he was not going to argue with her. Not after the day she had. Suddenly, he felt someone behind him. He turned around to face the familiar woman.
"Eve." Angel clenched his jaw. "Get out."
"I'd love to, boss." Eve smiled back at the vampire. "I just came to find out if Cordelia had the new baby yet."
"Why does it matter?" Angel raised an eyebrow.
"Senior Partners want to know. Someone about taxes, I'm not really sure." Eve told him.
"Why do I not believe you?" Angel crossed his arms.
Eve shrugged. "Because you have every reason in the world not to believe me."
"That's true."
"But I'm not lying." Eve stood. "If you aren't going to tell me I'll just go find out from the nursing staff. I just need to let the Senior Partners know."
"Wouldn't they be able to find out a hell of a lot faster then you?" Angel asked.
"They don't have eyes everywhere. Besides, they are having some problems in another dimension, I don't know the exact details." Eve told him.
"Get out, Eve." Angel opened the front door to the penthouse. "I told you to stay away from me and my family, what part of that don't you understand?"
"And I told you, you can't touch me." Eve smirked. "What part of that don't you understand?"
Before Eve knew what hit her, Angel had his hands around her throat. "Really? Looks like I'm able to touch you now." He then let her go and watched as she walked out the door. Damn, she pissed him off. After a moment, he sighed, realizing there was no way he was going to be able to sleep. He quickly changed into a black sweater and made his way back down to the hospital wing.
Gunn found Angel standing by the nursery window. All the babies in the nursery were babies of employees. Some were human, some were not. Angel had no room to talk though. Erin appeared as human as the next little girl, but Angel new better. His daughter was far from human.
"What are you looking at?" Gunn broke Angel's train of thought as he approached the vampire.
"Just her." Angel pointed into Erin who was sleeping. "Remember last time this happened?"
"You mean with Jess?" Gunn asked.
Angel nodded.
"Yeah. I remember. Seems like so long ago." Gunn said.
"Yeah, it does." Angel agreed. "I remember how scared and confused I was. I was so scared for Cordelia."
"Well, half those babies were demons." Gunn said.
Angel shook his head. "I wasn't scared about that. I was scared when I couldn't help her. I thought she was so weak, and she was in so much pain and I couldn't stop any of it."
"And you weren't scared today?" Gunn asked.
"No." Angel smiled at his friend and then turned his attention back to Erin. "Because I know now how strong Cordelia is. She doesn't need me to hold her hand every step of the way."
Gunn nodded in agreement. "She's an amazing woman."
"If either one of my daughters turn out to be half the person their mother is I could say I've done my job as a father." Angel told Gunn.
"Jess seems like she holds her own."
Angel nodded. "Yeah, she does."
"This one will be special too." Gunn nodded in at Erin.
Angel smiled. "Yeah. She will."
"Is this a male bonding session or can I interrupt?" Cordelia's voice entered the quiet hallway, causing Angel and Gunn both to turn around to see the mother standing their with a rob wrapped around her.
"Cordy, you shouldn't be up. You should be resting." Angel said.
"Please." Cordelia snorted. "I'm fine."
"You look good." Gunn said, trying to smooth over from his comment earlier. He then checked his watch. "I should get back to work. I've got paperwork to fill out on Dana."
Angel nodded as he watched Gunn take off down the hallway, he then pulled Cordelia close to him, and allowed her to lean against him, as he wrapped his arms around her, now, much smaller waist.
"What are you doing out here?" Cordelia asked him.
"Just watching her." Angel nodded towards Erin. "She looks so peaceful when she sleeps."
Cordelia smiled. "Well, she had a long day. I thought she had decided she didn't want to come out of me."
"Not like Jess." Angel said.
"No, not at all." Cordelia recalled her labor with Jessica. "I wasn't in labor for more then four hours with Jess." She looked up at Angel. "Do you remember that day?"
Angel nodded. "How could I forget?"
"You knew something was wrong that day, that's why you came back"
"Yeah, I knew."
"How?"
Angel shrugged. "Gut feeling. Like I was meant to be there."
"You were." Cordelia closed her eyes as she leaned against his shoulder. "If you hadn't showed up, Jess would have been demon guts on the wall. If you hadn't come in and delivered her…"
Angel nodded. "I never thought of it like that. It's like, I don't know."
"It's like it was part of your destiny to be there, to get your blood mixed with Jessica's." Cordelia told him exactly what he was thinking.
"Yeah." Angel agreed. "Cordy, I want to promise you something."
"What?" She asked.
"I won't let anything hurt Erin. I swear it, I won't lose her like I lost Jess to Holtz." Angel said very seriously.
"Angel, what happened to Jess wasn't your fault." Cordelia turned to face him.
"Yes, it was."
"No, it wasn't. You didn't know, Holtz tricked you."
"It doesn't matter. What matters is what I just promised to you. And if I don't hold up to that promise…"
"You will." Cordelia told him as she ran a hand over his cheek. "Or I will personally kick your undead butt."
Angel smiled, stealing a kiss from Cordelia and then turning to see Erin stir in her sleep. "Looks like she is waking up."
Cordelia looked in at their daughter. "Yeah. We should probably head back to the room, the nurse will bring her in once she's up."
Angel nodded, taking Cordelia's hand and following her back into her hospital room.
Jess had made the phone call. The person she talked to said they would be there earlier that morning. She was glad they could catch a flight and come by on such short notice. She just didn't know how she was going to explain their sudden arrival to everyone.
She took a deep breath as she entered the hospital wing. First she made her way back to Spike's room to see how the vampire was doing. He was sitting up in bed when she entered.
"Hey. How are you feeling?" Jessica asked.
"Alright. My hands are bloody weak as hell, but I recovered fast." Spike told her. "Doc said I'm out of here tomorrow."
"Well, that's good news." Jess told him.
"Why is that?" Spike raised an eyebrow.
"Because I have a surprise for you."
"For me?"
Jess nodded.
"What is it?" Spike asked.
"You'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out." Jess said, making her way to the door. "I think after you get angry at me for it, you'll thank me in the long run." She noticed the confused look on Spike's face but she left the room anyway, making her way down the hall to Cordelia's room.
Jess stood outside of her mother's room for a moment, contemplating on going in or not. She did want to check in on her mother and on her new baby sister, but she couldn't get over the fact of Connor. She missed him, and he should be enjoying his new baby sister along with the rest of his real family.
She heard Erin's cries from the other side of the door, and made herself a promise. She would protect Erin no matter what, she wouldn't lose her little sister like she had lost Connor, and with that promise she made her way into her mother's room.
Jess found Cordelia in bed with a now calm Erin, and Angel standing next to the bed.
Cordelia looked up when Jessica entered. "We were wondering when you were going to come back. Erin wanted to see her big sister."
Jess nodded. "I was busy around the office."
"Everything under control?" Angel asked.
Jess nodded. "I have some people coming in the morning." Jess looked at her watch, unable to believe how late it had gotten. It was almost morning already. "Or, in a few hours now."
Angel laughed. "I didn't realize what time it was either."
"Jess, come here." Cordelia patted the bed next to her.
Jess complied and took a seat next to her mother. "What's up?"
Cordelia smiled, handing Erin to Jessica. "Hold her."
A blank stare fell across Jessica's face. "What? No. I…I can't."
"Why not?" Cordelia asked.
"I might drop her." Jess said truthfully. She hadn't been around to many babies in her time, and she wasn't exactly sure how to hold Erin.
"You won't drop her." Cordelia assured her oldest daughter as she placed Erin in Jessica's arms. "Just support her head and you'll be good to go."
Jess nodded as she felt her little sister snuggle down into her arms. Erin looked up at Jess with a glimmer in her eyes and Jess realized at that very moment there was a connection between Erin and herself. They were sisters. They were blood.
Angel seemed to notice it too as he bent down to whisper in Cordelia's ear. "They look perfect together."
Cordelia nodded, fighting back tears as she watched her two daughters share a connection.
Jess had stayed in her mother's room for the next few hours, talking with her parents and watching her new little sister in awe. Erin was perfect and she loved the time she got with her family. It was a rare thing for the Angel family to be together for that many hours without work.
Jessica's beeper then went off and she sighed, looking down at it.
"Who was that?" Cordelia asked as she placed a now sleeping Erin down in her basinet the hospital had provided her with.
"My uh…my clients, they're here." Jess stood. "I should go check in with them."
Angel nodded. "Alright. Try and get upstairs and get some rest when you can. Your shoulder still looks nasty." He pointed to the wound she had received from Dana.
Jess looked at her own wound and then back at her father. "Yeah, I will." And with that she exited, making her way down to the front doors of the building.
Jess stood in the doorframe for a few moments before she saw the taxi pull up and three people get out. One man and two women. One she recognized, and two she didn't, although she had been told they all had met her when she was just a baby.
The one woman Jess recognized approached the young teenager and gave her a quick hug. "Good to see you, Jess."
"Thanks for coming on such short notice, Buffy." Jess said, as Buffy released her from her grasp. She then turned to the man and other girl she did not know. "You must be Giles and Dawn."
"Yes." Giles smiled at Jess. "You've grown since we last met."
"So I've heard." Jess smiled back at the older man.
"So, where's the slayer?" Dawn asked, eyeing the huge building.
"Inside." Jess opened the door. "Come on in."