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 59
Jess led Buffy, Dawn, and Giles down to the holding cell they were keeping Dana in. The slayer was still knocked out from the tranquilizers, and didn't seem to look like she would be waking up anytime soon.
"What did you do to her?" Buffy asked, noticing the shape Dana was in.
"They knocked her out, I guess. Tranquilizers. I wasn't there for the capture." Jess explained.
"Well, when will she wake up?" Buffy asked.
Jess shrugged. "I couldn't even tell you. What are you going to do with her?"
"I'll probably take her back to England with me. See if I can't get some help with her from a few old friends." Giles told her.
Jessica nodded. "Whatever you think is best."
"We'll leave her down here until the drugs wear off." Giles said. "Then I can determine how long they will keep her out cold so I know how long I have to move her."
"Sound good." Jess said.
"So…" Dawn smiled at Buffy. "Looks like we're back in California for a little bit."
Buffy nodded, with a sigh. "Yes, we are."
"What do you have to do around here?" Dawn asked Jessica.
"I'm sure you'll find something." Jess told her.
Buffy watched the interaction between Jess and Dawn. They were about the same age, except Jessica seemed a lot older then Dawn. Buffy guessed it was the lifestyle Jess had acquired while living with Cordelia and Angel.
Angel. Buffy smiled. She hadn't talked to him, or Cordelia for that matter, in awhile. She turned to Jess. "So how are your parents?"
Jess smiled. "They're good. Mom just had the baby yesterday."
"Wow." Buffy was happy for Angel. "Boy or girl?"
"Another little girl." Jess said, leading them upstairs.
"Awe, can we see her?" Dawn asked about the new baby.
"Uh…sure. Follow me." Jess said, leading Buffy, Dawn, and Giles down the hallway. She had no idea how she was going to explain half of the scoobies sudden arrival, but she figured she would just have to find a way.
Cordelia was sitting up in bed in her hospital room watching Angel hold Erin in the corner of the room. The doctors told her both she and Erin were doing well, and since their penthouse was only a few floors up, they could leave later that day if they wanted to.
"She looks a lot like you." Angel looked up at Cordelia as he made the comment about Erin.
"Well, I guess she got the good genes then." Cordelia joked around, and then sighed, leaning back into her pillow.
"What's wrong?" Angel asked.
"I'm just ready to be out of here already." Cordelia told him. "I just want to be in my own house and get Erin on a schedule there."
"Cordelia." Angel smiled down at Erin. "She's a day and a half old. She doesn't need to be on a schedule just yet."
"Well, then you can get up with her every fifteen minutes at night." Cordelia told him.
Angel stood, studying Erin's face. The child seemed to have a smile on her that told her father she would indeed keep him up all night. "Actually, a schedule's probably not a bad idea."
"Thank you." Cordelia seemed satisfied that Angel agreed with her as she reached out for Erin. Angel placed the child in her mother's arms and watched as Erin snuggled close to Cordelia, using her swollen breast as a pillow.
"Well, she looks comfy." Angel commented on Erin's position.
Cordelia smiled up at him and gave him a quick kiss, which was broken up by a knock on the door. Both Angel and Cordelia looked over to see Jess stick her head in.
"Hey." Jess said. "Up for visitors?"
Cordelia smiled. "Sure, who's here?"
Jess stepped aside to let Buffy, Dawn, and Giles entered the room. The look of shock on Angel and Cordelia's face as the scoobies enter made Jess cringe. She wouldn't hear the end of his from her mother.
"Wow!" Cordelia smiled, but gave Jess a look that Jess knew meant her mother was angry for letting Buffy in. Cordelia didn't have a problem with Buffy, but she had always tried to look her best when the slayer came around so that Angel remembered why he was with her, just incase he ever got any ideas of going back to Buffy. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Jess called about the slayer." Giles said, shaking Angel's hand. "Congratulations on the new baby."
Angel nodded. "Thanks."
"She's so cute." Dawn looked down at Erin. "What's her name?"
"Erin Doyle Angel." Cordelia replied.
"I'm so happy for you." Buffy gave Angel a hug. "I really am."
Cordelia tried to ignore the bit of jealousy that was coming to the surface as she watched Buffy hug Angel. She knew Angel and Buffy were just friends, and that Angel really loved her, but still, the fact that Buffy had been Angel's first real love would always hit Cordelia where it hurt.
"So." Angel moved toward Cordelia's bed, taking a seat on the edge of it and placing his hand on Cordelia's tense shoulder. "Jess called you up about the slayer?"
"I figured they would know what to do." Jess jumped in.
Angel nodded. "Good thinking."
"Yes." Giles agreed. "I'll be taking her back to England with me."
"Good idea." Angel said, and then was cut off as a ranting Spike entered the room. The blonde vampire was wearing his normal clothes, which Angel assumed meant he was out of the hospital.
"Jess! I can't bloody move anything with these weak hands. I need your help with…" Spike's voice trailed off as he saw Buffy standing in front of him.
"Spike?" Buffy's face went white as she starred at Spike.
"Uh…yeah." Spike looked down at his feet and then back up at the slayer. "What's with the look? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Well maybe that's because that's what it seems like. You know, you did die and all." Buffy snapped abruptly at Spike. She was confused and scared, and didn't mean to sound as rude as she did.
"I came back." Spike said simply. "That amulet thing I wore, it brought me back."
"And you didn't call to tell me?" Buffy asked, then turned her attention to Angel. "You! I talked to you on the phone, you couldn't tell me Spike was alive?"
"He didn't want me to." Angel told her truthfully.
"Why?" Buffy turned back to Spike.
"Because, I didn't want to make things complicated." Spike told her. "You moved on in your life, I wanted you to remember me as a hero…"
"Spike you were always…" Buffy's voice trailed off as she took a deep breath and looked around the room to see everyone's eyes glued on her and Spike. "Spike, can we talk out in the hall?"
Spike nodded, leading the slayer outside. Once the vampire and slayer left all eyes in the room turned to Jessica.
Jess gave an innocent look to everyone in the room. "What?"
Wesley, Lorne, and Gunn met Giles in the hallway. Jess had called Wesley, Lorne, and Gunn and told them that Giles was there to deal with the slayer who was still sleeping in the holding ceil, and to let him see all the files they had gathered on Dana.
"Giles." Wesley smiled, shaking the other ex-watcher's hand. "It's been a long time."
Giles nodded, taken back by Wesley's much more laidback attitude, as well as clothing style. This was not the same Wesley that Giles had met back in Sunnydale. "It has been long."
"Giles, this is Charles Gunn." Wesley motioned to Gunn. "He's a lawyer here."
"Nice to meet you, Charles." Giles shook Gunn's hand.
"Actually, its just Gunn." Gunn told him. "It's nice to meet you too, though."
"And this is Lorne." Wesley introduced Lorne. "He works in entertainment."
"Uh…Lorne." Giles shook the demons hand, a little confused by his appearance. Nice to meet you."
"You too." Lorne smiled at the Englishman.
"So, here's everything you need, Giles." Wesley handed Giles a huge folder.
"Thank you." Giles fixed his glasses. "The faster I can read these the faster we can get out of here, and the better everything will be for everyone."
"I'm gonna say that your slayer found Spike?" Gunn guessed.
Giles nodded. "Buffy ran into Spike."
"Oh boy." Lorne shook his head. "And I'll bet Jess didn't warn Buffy that Spike was alive, or Spike that Buffy was coming."
"Good assumption." Giles said.
Wesley nodded. "That's our Jess. Come on, you can look those files over in my office."
Giles nodded, following Lorne, Gunn, and Wesley into Wesley's office.
Cordelia was furious at Jessica as she paced her hospital room with Erin in her arms. Angel and Jess sat on Cordelia's bed while Dawn sat in a chair in the corner of the room. Everyone seemed to have their eyes glued on the seer, including Erin, who was wide-awake. Angel guessed it was because Erin could feel Cordelia's heart racing in her chest as Cordelia held the child close to her.
"Jess, I can't believe you didn't tell Spike that Buffy was coming." Cordelia narrowed her eyes at her oldest daughter. "In fact, I can't believe you didn't tell any of us Buffy was coming!"
"You were all a little busy when I made the decision to call Buffy." Jess argued her side of it. "Plus, you can't tell me it wasn't a good idea to let Buffy just find out Spike was alive."
"Yeah, maybe now she'll snap out of the little trance she's been in since he died." Dawn agreed with Jess.
"Trance?" Angel raised an eyebrow. "Buffy's been in a trance over Spike's death?"
"She took it hard." Dawn told him.
"Was she in a trance when she killed me?" Angel asked Cordelia, but took the look his wife shot back at him as a sign he had asked the wrong question at the wrong time.
"Dawn, do you think you could excuse us for a minute?" Cordelia asked the young girl. "My family is clearly stupid and need to be spoken to about it."
"Sure." Dawn stood, then looked back at Jess. It was clear the slayer's little sister had no idea where she was going to go.
"You can head down to my office. There's a pinball machine in the corner of it." Jess told her.
Dawn nodded, and exited, leaving Angel, Cordelia, Jess, and Erin in the room. Cordelia immediately went over and gave Angel a small smack upside the head.
"Was she in a trance when she killed me…" Cordelia mimicked Angel's comment from earlier. "Are you kidding me with that question?"
"I…sorry." Angel didn't know what else to say.
"And you!" Cordelia pointed at Jess. "I really don't care that Spike had no idea Buffy was coming, but you couldn't give me a heads up? I mean, look at me! I look like crap. I have no make-up on, my hair is hardly done, I'm in this stupid hospital gown and I am about thirty pounds over weight!"
"Mom, you just had a baby." Jess reminded her mother, as she pointed to Erin who was starring intensely at her enraged mother.
"Still!" Cordelia snapped, causing Erin to cry. Cordelia looked down at the child in her arms and began rocking Erin in her arms. "Baby, don't cry, mommy didn't mean it. Shh…"
"Here." Angel stood, stretching his arms out to take Erin from Cordelia. "Let me take her for a little."
"I can handle her!" Cordelia snapped at Angel, only causing Erin to cry more. "I am her mother!"
"Cordy, I just…" Angel ran a hand through his hair, and then turned to Jess. "Jess, why don't you go check in on Dawn. You're mother and I need to talk."
Jess nodded, taking any opportunity to get out of the room that a very angry Cordelia was in. She quickly made her way to the door.
Angel then turned to Cordelia who had almost calmed Erin down. "Cordy, what's bothering you?"
"It's just…" Cordelia sighed, taking a seat on her bed as she rocked Erin to sleep. "I wasn't ready for Buffy to show up."
"So?" Angel asked, taking a seat next to her.
"I want to be ready when she comes. I want to look good and…" Cordelia ran her finger over Erin's soft cheek.
"Why's it matter what you look like?" Angel asked.
"Because it does." Cordelia looked over at her husband. "Because Buffy comes in here looking absolutely gorgeous with her blonde hair, and beautiful tan skin, and tiny little waist and…" Cordelia looked down at herself. "And look what I look like."
"Personally, she couldn't even compete with you." Angel smiled at Cordelia.
"You're just saying that because it's what I want to hear." Cordelia told him.
"No." Angel pulled Cordelia close to him. "I'm saying it because it's what I believe."
Cordelia looked up at Angel, leaning her chin on his shoulder. "You mean that?"
"If I didn't, don't you think I'd be out in the hall staking Spike right now?" Angel joked.
"Shut up, dork." Cordelia laughed. "And help me pack up this room. I want to have Erin up in the penthouse by tonight."
Angel nodded as he watched Cordelia climb back into bed with Erin in her arms. He wished he could freeze that moment forever. Cordelia and Erin looked perfect together.
Spike and Buffy walked down a hallway in silence for a while. Neither really knew what to say to the other, though the silence was awkward. Finally Spike stopped, and turned to Buffy.
"Buf, obvoiosuly we need to talk." Spike told her. "I just don't know what you want to hear."
"How about the truth?" Buffy snapped at him. "Why you didn't tell me you were alive? Why you let me go on for months thinking you were dead because of a situation I put you in?"
"I didn't know how to explain me being back and I thought it would be best for us both to just move on." Spike explained.
"Oh, so you moved on?" Buffy crossed her arms.
"No." Spike shook his head quickly, and then the thought of Jessica popped into his mind. Had he somehow moved on from Buffy? "I don't know…maybe."
"So this wasn't about me then, Spike?" Buffy asked. "It's about you, and your need to move on."
"No. It's not that. Its just…Buffy I can't give you any kind of life. No normalcy at all." Spike told her. "I would just hurt you in the end."
"I'm the damn slayer." Buffy snapped. "I'm not normal, I don't want normal. Normal scares me."
"Then what do you want me to tell you, Buffy?" Spike asked.
"I want you to tell me you still need me." Buffy said, fighting back tears. "I want you to say that you still have room for me in your damn life."
Suddenly, all thoughts of Jessica seized to cross Spike's mind as he grabbed Buffy's waist and pulled her in for a long, passionate kiss.
Dawn found Jessica's office and had played two round of pinball by the time she had felt completely bored. She looked around the office, noticing all the weapons in the cabinet. She shrugged, making her way over to check them out. She was impressed by Jessica's collection. Buffy didn't even have that many weapons.
"Can I help you?" A woman's voice came from behind Dawn, causing the slayer's little sister to jump.
"Uh. No." Dawn shook her head. "Jess sent me in here."
"You must be Buffy's little sister." The woman said.
Dawn nodded. "I'm Dawn."
"Oh! I'm Fred!" Fred smiled shaking Dawn's hand. "It's so nice to meet you. I heard you guys were here, I just haven't run into anyone yet. I guess you all stay away from the lab."
"The lab?" Dawn raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, yeah, we have a lab here. I run it." Fred explained.
"That she does." Wesley came in from behind Fred and wrapped his arms around her giving her a kiss on the head.
"You must be Dawn." Wesley smiled at Dawn.
"And you must be Wesley." Dawn said to him.
"You know me?" Wesley raised an eyebrow. "I suppose your sister and Giles talked a lot about me then."
Dawn shook her head. "No. Mostly they told me you had an English accent and looked like a younger version of Giles."
Wesley didn't say anything, unsure if Dawn's description of him was a compliment or rude.
"There you guys are!" Jess entered her office to find Dawn, Wesley, and Fred.
"Hey, Jess, what's up?" Fred asked.
"Well I was on my way down here, and I ran into Gunn. He told me Giles said that Dana's up and we should head down there." Jess told them.
"Good idea." Wesley said.
"You guys go." Jessica told them. "I'm going to go find Buffy and Spike."
Wesley nodded, leading Fred and Dawn out of the office and down a hallway. Jess then put her game face on, taking in the smells of the air around here and trying to figure out where Buffy and Spike had gone. When she found their trail, she put back on her human face and went in the direction they had gone.
Angel carried all of Cordelia's stuff, while Cordelia carried Erin into the elevator and up to their penthouse. Dr. Scott had checked Cordelia and Erin out and said they were both doing extremely well and could go home whenever they felt like it, seeing as home was a few floors up. Cordelia had jumped at the opportunity to get out of the hospital room and had made Angel help her up the stairs almost immediately.
Cordelia carried Erin into the nursery that Angel and Jess had set up for the baby weeks before and sat down into the rocking chair in the corner. She looked down at Erin who was starting to wiggle a little in her arms.
Angel entered right behind Cordelia and smiled. "That's the same rocking chair that was in Jessica's room."
Cordelia nodded, rocking gently with Erin in her arms. "I spent many nights in this chair trying to get Jess to sleep."
Angel nodded, remembering how much Jess hated to sleep when she was younger. Erin didn't seem like that at all as he watched his youngest daughter close her eyes and drift off to sleep in her mother's arms. "Erin seems to want to sleep."
"Yeah." Cordelia agreed in a whisper as gently stood, placing the sleeping baby in her crib and then sighing and tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear.
"Come on." Angel put his arm around Cordelia. "It's been a long day for you."
"Where are we going?" Cordelia asked as Angel led her out of the room.
"I was thinking I'd cook you some dinner while you take a bath, and then I could give you a nice back message." Angel smiled at her.
"Don't you want to go see what's going on with Buffy and that slayer?" Cordelia questioned.
"It's not important." Angel told her. He knew Cordelia probably didn't want him to go sit around with Buffy while she sat upstairs with Erin. "You're important right now. If I get a chance to go check in on Buffy and Dana I will, if not it won't matter."
"Angel…" Cordelia raised an eyebrow. "You should go get your work done."
"I don't need to." Angel told her as he led her to the kitchen and watched her sit down in the chair. "I need to be up here with you."
"Angel…" Cordelia started, not that she didn't love Angel staying around with her instead of being downstairs with his ex-flame.
"Jess can handle it. I trust her." Angel said as he pulled out the box of spaghetti. "If I feel like going down later I will, but right now, I'm going to make you some dinner."
Cordelia smiled sweetly at him, but sighed as Erin's screams ripped through the penthouse. Cordelia stood. "Sounds like Erin's hungry too."
Angel nodded. "Go feed her. I'll start cooking."
Cordelia nodded, making her way back to Erin's room.
Jess made her way down a hallway that reeked of Buffy and Spike. She could tell they had only been there moments before. She stopped abruptly at a door, Spike and Buffy's trail leading her to it. She looked up at it to see her mother's name on the door. What were Spike and Buffy doing in Cordelia's office?
Jess shrugged, and opened the door, ready to tell the slayer and vampire to get downstairs, but not a sound came from her mouth as she starred at the scene in front of her.
Spike and Buffy were leaning against Cordelia's desk in a major make-out session, that they only stopped when they heard the door open and saw Jessica standing there.
"Jess." Spike's eyes grew wide. "I…uh…"
"What's up?" Buffy asked innocently. The slayer had no idea that Spike and Jess had been stealing kisses from each other on and off the last few months.
"Uh…downstairs. The slayer's up." Jess stammered. She had wanted Spike to get back with Buffy because she knew in her heart that Buffy had been the only thing right in Spike's undead life. She never thought, however, that she would witness it first hand. Jess had feelings for Spike, more so then she ever wanted to admit, and watching Spike kiss Buffy left Jessica at a lose for words.
Buffy nodded, taking Spike by the hand and leading him out of the room. Spike, however, caught Jessica's eye before he left the room. He seemed to feel bad about Jessica seeing what she had.
Jess sighed. She was not about to walk downstairs with Buffy and Spike after that. She checked her watch and decided she might as well head up to the penthouse. She thought she might be able to get some dinner and a shower in before Angel and Cordelia got back from the hospital. She hoped they weren't back already. She needed time to think and that was definitely not something she could do with her parents and a new baby in the house.
Angel made his way into Erin's nursery to find Cordelia in the rocking chair, rocking gently with Erin sucking on her breast. Angel thought it was a beautiful sight, and Cordelia was right, Erin was definitely hungry.
"Foods almost ready." Angel said as he took a seat on the floor in front of Cordelia. "I made you pasta and I heated up some hotdogs."
"Hotdogs?" Cordelia raised her eyebrow. "Those don't go with pasta."
Angel shrugged. "It's all there was in the freezer."
Cordelia shook her head with a smile dancing on her lips as she looked down at the baby in her arms. "You know, Erin, your dad is a really good cook, he just forgets what foods go with what sometimes."
Angel went to argue that he knew what foods go with what, but he was cut of by Jessica who was leaning against the doorframe.
"Who made hotdogs?" Jess asked.
Angel raised his hand. "I did."
"There all yours if you want." Cordelia told her oldest daughter as she fixed her shirt and then moved Erin to her shoulder to burp the baby. "I'm not in the mood for them."
Jess nodded. "Sounds good." She yawned.
"Long day?" Angel questioned his oldest daughter.
"You could say that." Jess told him.
"Did Buffy leave yet?" Cordelia asked.
Jess shook her head. "Dana just woke up, they all went down to deal with her."
"Why aren't you down there?" Angel asked.
Jess shrugged. "I figured Gunn and Wesley could hand it. Besides, I thought I was going to be able to eat and take a shower before you guys got home."
"Well, we got out of that hospital as soon as we could." Cordelia said, placing Erin down in her crib and then moving to the door. "I'm starving."
Angel grabbed Cordelia's hand. "Come on, let's go have dinner." He then turned to Jess. "Jess, you coming?"
"In a minute." Jess said.
Angel nodded and he and Cordelia made their way back to the kitchen. Jess, on the other hand, made her way over to her sister's crib. She looked down at the sleeping baby and sighed. She leaned against the crib and watched Erin's chest rise and fall with each breath. "Do yourself a favor, Erin, and stay a baby as long as you can, because the real world…it sucks."
Spike and Buffy made their way down the stairs and to the cell where Dana was. Gunn, Wesley, Lorne, Fred, Giles, and Dawn were already there and turned when they heard the vampire and slayer walk up.
"Where's Jess?" Fred asked.
"She uh…didn't come." Spike said, trying to shake off the last time he had seen Jessica.
"Well, we should be on our way." Giles told Buffy. "We just knocked the slayer out again and will restrain her until I get back to England."
"I thought you guys were in Italy?" Gunn asked.
"We are." Dawn told him. "Me and Buffy. Giles is in England."
"Oh." Gunn said. "Well, then good luck with the flight. The guys around back will help escort you to the airport."
"Thanks Gunn. And tell Angel and Cordy good luck with the baby. I'd run up to see them but I'm sure they've had a long day as it is." Buffy said, and then turned to Spike. "Walk me out?"
Spike nodded and took the slayer out to the front door.
Dawn and Giles just shrugged at each other before following a huge security guard out another door.
Spike and Buffy stood out on the steps of the building in silence for a long time. Then Buffy turned to Spike to see he was deep in thought.
"What are you thinking about?" Buffy asked him.
"Just this whole thing." Spike told her truthfully. "It's all just a lot to take in."
Buffy nodded, understanding completely. "I get that."
"So…" Spike turned to face Buffy, taking her hands in his. "Where do we go from here?"
"Come back to Italy with me?" Buffy asked.
Spike stood there, his mouth opened wide at the question the slayer had just asked.
Lindsey was watching TV when his doorbell rang. He sighed, making his way to the door and opening it to find Eve standing on the other side.
"Hey, baby." Lindsey smiled, pulling Eve in his apartment for a long kiss. "What are you doing here?"
"Business, business, business…" Eve smirked.
"Isn't that always the way." Lindsey said as he gave her another kiss. "So, what's up?"
"Cordelia had the baby." Eve told him, taking a seat on the couch. "Another girl."
"Does the kid have a connection with The Powers?" Lindsey asked.
Eve nodded with a sigh. "All the test confirm that this baby is part demon, and will grow to have some kind of connection with The Powers. They practically created the kid to reward Cordelia and Angel."
Lindsey sighed. "Great."
"I do have a plan to drive that little Angel family apart, though. The extended one as well." Eve perked up.
"What?"
"Angel's son."
"Angel doesn't have a son."
"Oh, but he does." Eve smirked. "You see, that was part of the deal when they took over Wolfram and Hart. Angel and Darla have a son together, who was raised in a hell dimension with Jessica. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, the boy snapped a few months ago. Jess got the Senior Partners to alter time so that Connor could have a different family, a different life, and different memories. Connor doesn't remember anything and no one remembers him. No one except me and Jess, and now you know about him."
Lindsey smiled. "That's amazing."
Eve nodded, as she snuggled close to Lindsey. "And I have the perfect plan..."