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 60
Buffy stood on the steps, studying Spike's face and waiting for an answer from him. Giles and Dawn would be around the front soon and if Spike was coming with her she needed to know now.
"Uh, Spike?" Buffy finally said.
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking." Spike told her.
"What's there to think about? We're in this together, aren't we?"
"Buffy, I need to think." Spike sighed. "This is not something I want to make a mistake about."
"What mistake? Don't you want to be with me?" Buffy asked.
"More then anything." Spike told her truthfully.
"Then just come with me."
"It's not that easy."
"Why can't it be?" Buffy asked him, clearly frustrated. "Spike, we both fought for so long and so hard. Why can't we just be happy?"
"Because we aren't done fighting, Buffy." Spike told her. "You know that. You still have a fight over in Italy, and don't tell me you aren't slaying things over there. And L.A., Wolfram and Hart, they need me."
"They have Angel." Buffy said almost desperately. "And his daughter. Spike, they did fine without you before."
"Buffy, you know if it was just about you and me and not the apocalypses that face us every other day I'd be with you in a heartbeat. But its not just about us, we are the few who constantly have to give up our chances at happiness to ensure the rest of the worlds safety." Spike pulled Buffy close to her. "Angel and them are in a sticky situation right now. Something big is coming, I can feel it. Once this is over here, whatever it is, I promise I will come to you. But you know right now I can't. It would be unfair and unrealistic to think we could have a normal relationship right now."
Buffy nodded, she understood. She also knew why Spike wouldn't come back with her to Italy. "You don't feel like you've redeemed yourself, do you?"
Spike shook his head. "I'm not even close yet. I need to do that and be content with myself before I can be the type of man you deserve."
Just then Giles and Dawn pulled up in a black car provided by Wolfram and Hart. Dawn unrolled the window to yell to Buffy.
"Buf, come on, we've got to go!" Dawn hollered from the window.
Buffy nodded, turning back to Spike, and the vampire could see the slayer was trying so hard to fight back tears as she took his hands in her own.
"So, I guess this is goodbye for now." Buffy sighed.
Spike rested his head against hers giving her a slight smile. "Only for now, luv." And then he kissed her hard and passionately. He knew it would be the last time he felt her lips on his for a while, maybe forever.
Buffy kissed him back, not wanting their embrace to end, but like all things, it had to. She then turned away from Spike and ran down the steps to the black car waiting for her, never once looking back at the blonde vampire. She was afraid she would crack if she did.
Spike watched as the black car that contained Buffy, Dawn, Giles and Dana jetted off down the street. He then sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and turning back into the building. It had been a long two days and he needed some rest.
Jess sighed, covering her head with her pillow as she heard Erin's screams fill the penthouse. It had been the third time that night already and she was just about ready to go sleep in her office.
She heard her mother and father scrambled down the hallway and into Erin's room, but the baby continued to cry. After about five minutes, Jess stood, making her way down to her little sister's room.
Jess opened the door to find Cordelia rocking a crying Erin in the rocking chair, and Angel leaning against the crib. Her father looked tried and disheveled, his hair sticking up in every direction. Her mother on the other hand, looked calm, like she had done this many times before.
"Doesn't the kid shut up?" Jess asked. She hated being woken up in the middle of the night, and was grouchy by the third round of Erin's screams.
"She's only an infant." Cordelia told her oldest daughter. "She won't sleep through the night for a couple of weeks yet."
"Weeks?" Jessica's eyes grew wide as she looked at her father who nodded slowly.
"Weeks." Angel told her with a sigh.
"Hell no!" Jess leaned against the door. "I can't do it. I can't function on four or fives hours of sleep a night."
"Well, what do you want me to do, Jess?" Cordelia snapped, and Jess noticed just how tired her mother really looked. "She's only a baby, and this is what babies do." Cordelia continued rocking Erin until the child had calmed down.
Jess was taken back by her mother's tone, but said nothing. Instead she looked to her father who was practically falling asleep, standing up. Jess shook her head, turning out of the room and slamming her bedroom door hard behind her, causing Erin to begin crying again.
"Jess!" Cordelia screamed as she began rocking Erin's quickly again. "You're grounded for that, do you hear me!"
"Cordy…" Angel started.
"She slammed that door on purpose, Angel." Cordelia told her husband. "Like she didn't think the noise was going to wake Erin up…please!"
"She'd have woken up in another hour anyway!" Jess screamed from her room. Her vampire hearing was finally tuned, and she could hear everything being said in her sister's room.
"Grounded! Do you hear me?" Cordelia shouted back at her daughter. "You're grounded!"
Fred and Wesley walked hand in hand down the hallway of Wolfram and Hart. It was a gorgeous morning and they were yet to get a case in, so Wesley decided it would be a good idea to go out to breakfast. Then they saw Eve turn a corner and make her way down a hallway, oblivious to Fred and Wesley.
"What is she doing here?" Fred whispered to Wesley.
Wesley shrugged. "Angel did say she was back."
"Where do you think she is going?"
Wesley shrugged again, and then looked down at Fred. "Think we should follow her?"
Fred nodded and followed Wesley as he slowly led them into the filing room Eve had gone into. Wesley motioned Fred to slide away from the door so Eve didn't know they were there. They watched as Eve ripped through a filing cabinet before pulling out a folder and making her way out of the back door.
Wesley then made his way in the room to see what cabinet Eve had gone through. "It looks like these cabinets are in alphabetical order. Eve went through the Ci-Cu drawer."
Fred nodded. "We should tell Angel."
"Yes." Wesley agreed, taking Fred by the hand and leading her out of the room.
Jess entered the kitchen to find her dad sitting at the table with a cup of blood in his hand and his head on the table. He looked tired as hell, but lifted his head as Jessica entered. Jessica, however, ignored him completely and made a straight line right to the coffee maker. She poured herself a cup and then joined her father at the table. She was as tired as he was.
"That baby is possessed." Jessica spoke of her younger sister.
"Seven times she was up last night." Angel starred at the wall. "Seven times."
Jess nodded. "I know. I heard her."
"Now Erin's quiet." Angel almost seemed to laugh at himself. "It's ten in the morning and I have to be at work so of course now she is quiet."
"You and me both." Jess sighed. "Plus I'm grounded."
"Yes you are." Cordelia entered with Erin in her arms. She did not look as tired as Angel or Jessica she noted to herself, as she looked back and forth between her oldest daughter and husband. "Which means no leaving this building for two weeks. No cases, no shopping, no joy rides in those cars downstairs, no nothing."
"No cases?" Angel raised an eyebrow. "Cordy, we might need her."
"She can work in the office all she likes, but no field work. She is grounded." Cordelia said as she shifted Erin from one arm to the other.
"What the hell am I supposed to do for two weeks?" Jess asked. She was aggravated her mother was grounding her for slamming a stupid door when Erin would have just woken up again anyway.
"You can help me around here." Cordelia smiled down at Erin to see the small child giving a small grin back to her mother. Cordelia knew how much Jess didn't want to be around her and a screaming baby all day for two weeks and it seemed Erin knew it too. Jess would never want to be grounded after that, Cordelia decided.
"What?" Jessica's eyes grew wide. "That's not being grounded. That's like doing a sentence! No, I take that back! A prison sentence would be easier!"
Cordelia nodded. "Maybe next time you won't slam doors."
"Dad!" Jess looked to her father.
But Angel said nothing, knowing he couldn't take a side in the argument even if he wanted to. Lucky for him, the front door to his penthouse busted opened and Fred and Wesley entered.
"Angel?" Wesley said, entering the kitchen and then looking around the room at the Angel family. "What happened to you guys?"
"What do you mean?" Angel asked, tiredly.
"You look like crap." Wesley said simply.
"Well, we have our own alarm clock." Jess motioned over to Erin. "Goes off every hour or so."
"Jess…" Cordelia narrowed her eyes at her oldest daughter as she took a seat with Erin in her arms next to Angel.
"Wes, what's going on?" Angel asked.
"Eve." Wesley said. "We saw her today."
"Going through files." Fred added.
"What files?" Angel asked.
"A file that was filed between the Ci's and the Cu's in the drawer." Wesley told the vampire. "I couldn't tell you which."
"Well, where do we find the catalog to the drawers?" Angel asked.
"I have it." Jess sighed, standing slowly. "It's down in my office. Come on, we can go get it."
"No you can't." Cordelia told her. "I need help."
"You told me I could work around here." Jess argued. "This is office work."
"Well, right now, I need you to watch Erin while I take a shower, so your dad will just have to go get the files and figure it out." Cordelia told her daughter.
"Fine." Jess growled. "They're in the second drawer on the right."
Angel nodded, mouthing a "sorry" to his oldest daughter before leaving the room with Wesley and Fred right behind him.
"Come on." Cordelia stood, shifting Erin in her arms. "I'll put her in her crib and then jump in the shower. All you have to do is keep an eye on her until I get out."
Jess sighed, but complied, following her mother out of the room. The next two weeks were going to be hell, she could just feel it.
Eve entered Lindsey's apartment with a huge smile on her face, and an even bigger folder in her hand. Lindsey came out of the kitchen when he heard his front door open and smiled, pulling Eve in for a kiss.
"So what do we have here?" Lindsey looked down at the folder in Eve's hand.
Eve smiled, holding up the folder that had CONNOR written on it in huge letters. "Everything and more on Angel's son and the deal Jessica struck with Wolfram and Hart. I'll let you read it and I'm going to go see how I'm going to set up my little plan."
Lindsey pulled Eve in for another kiss, before sitting down on his couch and opening up the folder. "This is all too good. Won't Angel Investigations miss this file though?"
"No one knows about it except me and Jessica, and Jessica kept no record of the file ever being there because she was afraid someone would stumble across it, so they will never even know I took this file." Eve smiled widely.
"Excellent." Lindsey said as he began reading.
Gunn and Lorne made their way into Jessica's office to find Fred, Wesley, and Angel. Immediately, both the lawyer and demon made a face at Angel. The vampire's shirt was wrinkled, he wasn't wearing a jacket, and his hair was hardly jelled. He looked like crap.
"What's going on?" Gunn asked, trying not to stare at Angel's appearance.
"Just get it over with." Angel threw his arms out. "I know, I look like crap. Erin had the whole house up all night, and the only one who isn't truly falling on their face from the lack of sleep would be Erin, but Cordelia's running a close second."
"Well, Cordy used to be up with Jessica every night." Gunn reminded Angel. "She must just be used to it."
"No." Angel shook his head fiercely. "Jess wasn't like this. This kid…she cries, and cries, and cries and-"
"We get it, Angelcakes." Lorne cut the vampire off. "But what are we doing in here?"
"Eve stole a file from the firm." Fred told him. "We're trying to figure out which one."
"We have to match the cards on each file in that drawer with the actual file to see which one is missing." Wesley said, pulling out a stack of cards from Jessica's desk. "This is the entire catalog for that particular drawer."
"Well, this looks like fun." Gunn said sarcastically.
"Come on, let's get to work." Angel said, leading the group down to the filing room.
Jess sat on the floor in Erin's room next to her little sister's crib, starring at the ceiling and listening to Erin's heartbeat. Jessica was bored. She could still hear the shower running in her mother's room and she assumed Cordelia was taking her sweet time. Her mother had already been in there for an hour. Not that her mother didn't deserve it. She had just had a child two days ago, and Jess knew it could have been worse. If Cordelia had not been part demon she probably would have still been laid up in the hospital which would have meant Jess and Angel would have had to do a hell of a lot more for the immortal seer.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door. Jess sprung to her feet, checking to see Erin laying her in crib, wailing her arms around, but on the whole, looking rather content. Jess nodded, and made her way to the front door, opening it to find Spike standing on the other side.
"Spike." Jess looked surprised to see the blonde vampire. "What are you doing here?"
"Came up to see you." Spike said as casually as he could.
"Buffy left." Jess said simply.
"Yeah." Spike nodded. "I know."
"Why didn't you go with her?" Jess asked. She knew Spike had feelings for the slayer, so why was he still in L.A. while Buffy was in Europe?
Spike was taken back by this question. "Did you want me to?"
"Spike, I invited her here for a reason." Jess told him. "And it wasn't just about Dana. You love her, I know you do."
Spike laughed to himself. "Well, we all know life isn't that simple."
"Why not?" Jess asked, straight faced.
Spike sighed. "Can I come in?"
Jess nodded, moving aside to let the blonde haired vampire into the penthouse.
Angel, Fred, Wesley, Gunn, and Lorne all sat on the floor of the filing room with folders and paperwork thrown all around them.
Gunn sighed, throwing the last folder in the filing cabinet on the floor. They had gone through the entire cabinet and matched every single card to every single file and so far, not one was missing.
"She didn't take anything." Gunn concluded as he looked around at the rest of the group.
"She did." Wesley rubbed his eyes. "We saw her."
"Yeah." Fred nodded in agreement.
"Well, no files are missing from this drawer, sweetie." Lorne told her. "Are you guys sure it was this drawer she took it from?"
"It was." Angel said matter-of-factly. "I can smell her all over these files. The problem is all of our files match the catalog for this drawer."
"So what does that mean?" Gunn asked.
"I've got no clue." Angel replied. "But with Eve I'll bet you it isn't good."
The rest of the group nodded in agreement with Angel. They all knew Eve was bad news.
Cordelia turned the water off in the shower and dried off, struggling to get into her cloths, she sighed. There was no way she was fitting back into any of the things she wore before she had gotten pregnant wit Erin, not right now anyway.
"This sucks." Cordelia mumbled to herself as she moved to her closet, pulling out a blue pair of lounging pants and a white tee shirt. She then threw a gray sweatshirt on, brushed her hair, and made her way down to Erin's room to check in on both of her daughters.
However, Cordelia's mouth dropped open when she entered Erin's room to find the baby in the crib, but Jessica nowhere in sight.
Cordelia shook her head, picking Erin up gently and looking down at her youngest daughter. Erin seemed to have a look of boredom on her face as she swung her arms around while Cordelia struggled to get a hold of the squirming child.
"I'll tell you something, Erin." Cordelia smiled down at her daughter. "Your sister is in big trouble for leaving you alone. All I did was ask her to watch you for a few minutes and she couldn't even do that."
Cordelia shook her head and made her way out into the hall, still ranting to her youngest daughter. "Wait till I get a hold of her…" Cordelia's voice trailed off as she peeked into the living room to see Spike sitting on the couch and Jess standing by the door with her arms crossed.
Cordelia quickly turned back down the hall and made her way back to Erin's room, sitting down in the rocking chair and looking down into Erin's hazel eyes. "Maybe we'll let your sister slide on this one. I think her and the man with the silly blonde hair need to talk out some things." She then began rocking Erin slowly, like she used to rock Jessica to sleep.
Jess watched Spike carefully as the blonde vampire sat on the couch, taking deep breaths. Whatever he had planned on saying to her, Jessica could tell it was a big deal for him, because he was breathing. Vampires didn't need to breathe.
"Do you want to tell me something?" Jess broke the silence of the room.
Spike looked up at Jessica for a moment, as if she had broken his train of thought. Then he nodded his head. "Yeah."
"Ok?" Jess raised an eyebrow.
"I love Buffy." Spike said simply.
Jess nodded, she knew what he said was true, even if she didn't want to believe it. "I know."
"I led you on." Spike told her. "I kissed you, and wanted to be close to you, and talked to you like we had something. And maybe we did. I don't know. All I know is you reminded me so much of the slayer, that the pain of not being able to be with her lessened when I was around you. It made me think I could move on."
"But you can't." Jess told him. She knew it all along. She would never have been able to compete with Buffy. Never.
Spike shook his head. "No. I don't think I can."
"I know that too." Jess said, trying to hold back tears that threatened her eyes. The feelings she had for Spike were now coming to a surface, only they were too late.
"Jess, I want to still be able to talk to you. I don't want things between us to get complicated because I care a lot about you its just…" Spike sighed.
Jess nodded, making her way toward the hall. "Don't worry about it. Things between us already are complicated, Spike." And with that Jess made her way back down the hall.
Spike watched the hall for a moment, thinking Jessica would come back into the living room, but she didn't. He sighed and stood, exiting the penthouse. That had not gone the way he had hoped.
Cordelia heard Jessica coming down the hallway long before she arrived in Erin's room. Jess turned into Erin's room, expecting to find Erin in the crib where she had left her, instead she found her little sister in her mother's arms in the rocking chair in the corner.
"Busted…" Jess sighed, looking at her mother.
"Jess-" Cordelia began.
"Mom, before you start, I only left Erin in her for a second. She was fine." Jess said, thinking she was in trouble.
"I know." Cordelia told her oldest daughter gently. "You're off the hook for that one."
"I am?" Jess was surprised. She had expected Cordelia to ground her for another two weeks.
"Well, you weren't originally." Cordelia told Jess as she shifted Erin in her arms. "Then I saw Spike was here, so…"
"Oh." Jess nodded, not wanting to bring up Spike at all.
"Anything you want to talk about?" Cordelia asked, approaching the subject of Spike lightly.
Jess shook her head. "I'm really just kind of tired. It was a long night with Erin last night."
Cordelia stood, seeing her daughter didn't want to talk. "You should get some sleep."
Jess nodded, as Cordelia gave her a slight kiss on the head. "Good night, mom."
"Good night, baby." Cordelia said as she watched her oldest daughter leave the room. She then looked down at her youngest daughter in her arms. Erin was smiling sweetly at Cordelia and swinging her one arm freely. Cordelia gently caught the child's swinging arm and kissed Erin's little fist. "How about you try sleeping tonight too?" Cordelia asked in a baby voice as she set Erin down in her crib.
Cordelia jumped out of bed as the vision hit her. It wasn't painful, her demon strength made them a breeze, but this vision was different from any other she had ever had before. She felt connected to this one; she felt like the person that needed protecting in her vision was someone she knew, someone she loved.
Angel sat up as he felt Cordelia sit up in bed. He assumed at first it was Erin crying that had made Cordelia wake up. He had almost gotten used to his youngest daughter's screams. Erin had been in the world a week and had not gone more then an hour and a half at night without belting her lungs out.
"Cordelia?" Angel grabbed her hand as he realized she was having a vision. "Cordy, what do you see?"
When the vision was over, Cordelia caught her breath, turning to Angel. "Someone. A guy. I couldn't see his face. I felt like I knew him though." She scrunched her nose up. "There were some demons driving a van…they were going to hit the person in my vision. The demons were trying to kill him."
"Where?" Angel asked, jumping out of bed.
Cordelia grabbed Angel's arm, pulling him back down. "Relax. The vision isn't happening for another two week."
"A week?" Angel raised an eyebrow.
Cordelia nodded. "That's so weird. I haven't had a vision in months maybe, and now the Powers send me one so early…"
Angel nodded in agreement. "Maybe this visions important."
"Maybe." Cordelia sighed, leaning into Angel. "We should try and get some sleep before Erin wakes up." Cordelia looked over at the clock. "She'll want to be fed when she does and I…"
Cordelia was cut off by Erin's screams coming from down the hall.
"I think you spoke to soon." Angel smiled at Cordelia.
Cordelia huffed, getting out of bed and looking down at her swollen breast. "I didn't think I had this much milk in me. All this baby does is want to eat."
"Jess was the same way." Angel reminded his wife as he watched Cordelia make her way out of the room. Her curves moving with every step she took. Angel couldn't believe how beautiful she was.
Eve smiled at Lindsey as she watched him sleep. She had just arrived at his apartment and had some important news for him, but she didn't want to wake him, he looked so peaceful.
Then Lindsey stirred, opening his eyes with a grin on his face. "I can always tell when someone is watching me." He motioned for Eve to come sit down. "Comes with the territory, I guess."
"So." Eve gave Lindsey a quick kiss. "The plans in motion. I just contacted our associates. In about two weeks they are going to drive the truck over to Connor's house themselves and basically hit him at a ridiculous speed. The impact will kill him, and once he is dead, everyone's memories of him automatically get restored. It was in the contract, Jessica just never bothered to read that part."
Lindsey smiled. "Then Team-Angel will all get angry with Jess for hiding this from them and then feel guilty and resentful because they couldn't save Connor themselves, and Angel and Cordelia will be beside themselves."
"They crumble, and we take over." Eve smiled.
Lindsey nodded, kissing Eve more passionately. "I love this plan."