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 68Jess stood, starring down at the brother she never thought she would see again. He was still on the floor, very still, his eyes tracking Jessica's. Jess too, was still, not moving one muscle in her body. She was still in shock at Connor's sudden, unexpected arrival.
Cordelia was the first to react, remembering her son had no idea who she really was. He never would remember his real family. She moved forward, bouncing Erin in her arms, and smiling as best she could at Connor. "Connor, it's good to see you again. Sorry we never called with your blood tests, but we left the firm…"
Cordelia waited for a response from the boy who was so lively back at Wolfram and Hart, but as she looked at him, she felt like she was staring at the Connor she remembered coming back from Quortoth. The Connor who had kept everything inside.
When Connor said nothing, Cordelia continued. "I assume the firm told you we left. I guess that's why you're here, but I'm really sorry, we don't have the blood tests anymore, although I'm sure Fred could run another one on you…"
"Don't bother." Jess said to her mother, her eyes never leaving Connor's. "He knows what he is."
"What?" Cordelia was confused.
"He knows who he is." Jess said as she continued to look at her brother. "You remember it all don't you, Connor?"
Connor just looked at his sister blankly. "I don't know what I remember. I don't know what's real anymore."
Jess nodded, moving over to the phone, and quickly dialing Wesley's cellphone number. She was certain, from the minute that she locked eyes with Connor, that he remembered. She assumed the memory spell Wolfram and Hart had put on him had worn off like it had on the rest of the fang gang. Now she needed to know why. And she had a feeling Wesley was the only guy around who could help her.
Eve and Lindsey sat in what had once been Jessica's office. Eve had taken it over now, and moved all of her stuff in, throwing out Jessica's desk and pinball machine. She smiled up at Lindsey who was going through a pile of paperwork.
"So, how's it feel to finally be running this place?" Eve asked.
Lindsey smiled back at her. "Better then you ever could imagine."
"So…" Eve made her way over to Lindsey and took a seat on his lap. "What's our first big project here?"
Lindsey sighed. "Angel Investigations…Senior Partners want them gone."
"If we fight them, it means we fight the Powers That Be." Eve said. "Angel and Jess are champions for them, the Powers won't let them die."
"The Powers don't intervene with free will." Lindsey told her. "We fight Angel Investigations and they are willing to fight back until the death, the Powers have no control over that."
"So we make Angel Investigations fight us?" Eve asked.
"Not just us." Lindsey said, smiling at Eve. "The Senior Partners are backing us up now. We don't just fight Angel Investigations. We create hell on earth for them."
Eve smiled slyly at Lindsey's words as she kissed him gently on the lips.
Fred and Wesley were in the middle of a small restaurant when Wesley's cell phone began ringing. He looked down at it, and then back up at Fred who seemed a little annoyed as she ate her diner
"It's the hotel." Wesley told her.
Fred sighed. "Wesley…" Not that she didn't want him to pick it up, it was just that she wanted some alone time for her and Wesley.
"It could be an emergency…" Wesley said.
After a moment Fred nodded. "Fine."
Wesley took a breath, and flipped open his cell phone. "Hello…yes, Jess…what? What…No, I'll be there." Quickly Wesley hung up the phone.
"What was it?" Fred asked.
"It was Jess we have to get to the hotel." Wesley stood, motioning for the waiter to bring the check.
"What?" Fred was confused. "Why?"
"Connor." Wesley said, the shock factor creeping it's way into his voice. "He's back."
That was all Wesley had to say to get Fred out of her seat. She too, began motioning for the waiter to bring the check. They needed to get back to the hotel, and they needed to get there fast.
Angel, Gunn, and Spike made their way back into the hotel lobby to find Cordelia, with Erin in her arms, and Jess both standing in the corner of the lobby, over what appeared to be a young man.
"What's going on in here?" Angel asked, moving toward his wife and daughters.
Jess stepped aside to allow Angel, Spike, and Gunn to get a view of the man on the floor. All three of them could easily see who it was.
"Connor?" Angel was taken back.
Connor stood slowly, clearly unsure of Angel.
It took every muscle in Angel's body for him not to lunge forward and pull his son in close to him. He missed Connor so much, and it stung the vampire to see the boy who would never remember him.
Instead of hugging the boy in front of him, Angel dug his hands into his pockets. "What are you doing here?"
Connor looked at Angel, and then back at Jess, his eyes searching for the answers he didn't have. "I…I don't know."
"Ya alright, man?" Gunn asked, waving his hand in Connor's face, remembering the boy had no idea who he truly was, all because of Jessica's decisions.
"He's knows, Gunn." Jess said, making her way over to the couch. "He remembers."
"You…you remember?" Angel's eyes grew wide as he looked at his son.
Connor shrugged. "I'm not sure."
"What in the bloody hell do you mean you aren't sure?" Spike asked. "Either you remember or you don't."
"Spike." Cordelia warned as she felt Erin's little fingers wrap around her wedding band.
"What?" Spiked asked. "It's the damn truth. Either he remembers who he is or he doesn't."
"I'm your son." Connor said to Angel, and then turned to Cordelia. "And you're my mother. Except, you're not my real mom, she died."
"When you were born." Angel said slowly. "She died so you could be born."
"Darla." Connor nodded.
"Yes, Darla was her name." Angel said.
"You're my sister." Connor told Jessica. "We were lost together. Holtz. He took us. We were in the dark for a very long time."
"Quortoth." Jess said, from her seat on the couch. She had her back to Connor, she couldn't look at him. Not after what she had done to him. Everything that was happening to him right now was her fault.
"You did this to me." Connor accused Jess as he took a step closer to his sister. "I have all of these memories mixed up in my head, and I don't know what is real and what isn't, but I know you did this to me, Jessica."
As her name slipped out of Connor's mouth, Jessica tried to fight back the tears that were threatening her eyes. He had just accused her of the biggest crime she had committed against him. She took everything real from him, and now he had it back, and it was all her fault.
"Connor…" Angel took a step forward, afraid Connor would go after Jessica.
"You tried to save me." Connor said as he made his way around the couch to face Jessica. "I know you did."
Jess looked up at Connor, her brow furrowed just like Angel's did when he was confused. "What?"
"I don't know what happened, or why it happened, but I know you loved me, and you saved me the only way you could." Connor told Jess. "I know you did, Jess. And I don't want to know why you did what you did. Knowing you did it because you love me is enough. You don't need to explain yourself to me."
Before Jess could say another word, Connor hand pulled his sister in for a hug. She began to cry into his shoulder, and soon realized he was crying as well. She realized, now, just how much she loved and had missed her brother.
Cordelia, with Erin in her arms, Angel, Gunn, and Spike just stood there in aw as they watched the interaction between brother and sister. None of them could believe what they were seeing.
Jess and Connor quickly broke apart, however, as they heard the lobby door swing open and Wesley and Fred shuffle in.
"What's going on?" Wesley asked quickly, prepared for the worst. The way Jess had talked to him on the phone earlier, the ex-watcher was unsure of what to expect when he and Fred had gotten back to the Hyperion Hotel.
Connor stood, the first to react to Wesley and Fred's arrival. "I'm back."
"I see." Wesley said, a little shocked at how calm Connor was. This as not the same boy he remembered coming back from Quortoth at all.
"We want to know why." Jess stood next to Connor.
"Why what?" Wesley asked.
"Why the spell didn't hold up." Jess said. "Obviously it did for a while there."
"Why would you say that?" Wesley asked.
"Because when Lindsey broke the contract, Connor still didn't remember." Jess reasoned.
"Well, I can't answer why that happened." Wesley told her. "I don't have the resources. I don't even know how the Senior Partners lay out their contracts."
"We should figure it out." Angel spoke up. "Something must have tampered with Connor's mind because even when the contract was broken, he didn't remember anything. Now all of the sudden he does?"
"That's true." Wesley agreed. "Still…"
Angel turned to Connor. "You remember it all now? Everything that happened?"
"It's like I'm stuck somewhere between a dream, reality, and a nightmare." Connor told him honestly. "Some of it makes me feel so happy and content, and some of what I remember is so dark and I feel like I'm falling deeper into a hole. I don't know what I can believe anymore. I just no my family…well…my other family, they don't exist anymore."
"What?" Wesley asked, confused.
"I don't know, they just…" Connor sighed. He was confused by his own words. "They weren't real. They never were."
"When did all of this happen, sweetie?" Cordelia asked her son gently as she stroked Erin's soft cheek.
"It's weird." Connor said, sitting back down on the couch. "I was at the bookstore on campus today." He looked up at Jess and Angel who were now both standing over him, with their arms folded across their chests and the same look on their faces, somewhere between sad and angry. They looked identical, towering over Connor. "I work at the bookstore. I went down in the basement to get some extra copies of a book, and what do I see down there?"
"A demon." Spike cut Connor short, piecing everything together. "You're the one who called us today about the demon at the bookstore, you were supposed to meet us there."
Connor nodded. "The weird part is, I don't know why I called here. I don't know how I even knew the number. I just picked up the phone and dialed it, and you answered." Connor nodded to Angel. "And then everything just clicked."
"No offense, but that's weird." Gunn said. "I mean, you see us all, the contract gets broke, and you still don't remember us, and then for some reason, you just decide to call hear and Angel's voice on the phone makes you remember? That's weird."
Connor nodded in agreement. "I know."
"We should look into it." Fred said.
"How?" Jess asked. "Wesley said it, if we don't know how a Wolfram and Hart contract works, we can't figure this out."
"We could if we had a Wolfram and Hart contract." Angel gave a small smile. "Preferably a copy of the one Jess signed regarding Connor."
"Why?" Gunn asked.
"Did any of us read the fine print on that contract when we got a copy?" Angel asked. "No, none of us did, which means there might be something on it we missed."
"Well, it doesn't matter, because we don't have a copy of it anymore." Jess sighed.
"Doesn't mean we can't get one." Angel said.
Immediately realizing Angel was planning on doing something extremely dangerous and stupid, Cordelia grabbed her husband's arm. "Angel, whatever you think you are going to do, don't."
Angel turned to Cordelia. "Cordy, just trust me." He then turned back to the room. "We need to get back into Wolfram and Hart. We need to find a copy of that contract."
"Easy." Gunn remembered. "I kept one in the safe in my office."
"They probably got rid of the damn safe by now, don't you think?" Spike asked.
"No." Gunn said. "They wouldn't know about it. It was between two floorboards in my office. I had it put in a few weeks after we arrived. It's not in the original design of the building."
"Then that's settled." Angel smiled down at his son, happy to have Connor back, and ready to do whatever it would take to find out why Connor was back. "We are going to Wolfram and Hart and getting that copy."
"You do realize that means we have to bloody break into that place?" Spike questioned Angel's sanity. "And that building is going to be heavily fortified against us since they want us bloody dead, right?"
Angel nodded. "I know. That's why just me, you, Gunn, and Wes are going."
"What?" Jess and Connor said in unison and then looked at each other, trying to hold back smiles. It was easy to see they were comfortable around each other, like the past few months they had spent apart hadn't existed, like Connor had never left.
"You guys are going to stay here with your mom, and Erin, and Fred." Angel told his two oldest children.
"We can fight." Jess said.
"Damn right they can." Gunn agreed. "They should come."
"No." Angel said. He had just gotten Connor back, like hell he was going to put any of his children in harms way. "They'll stay here."
"You're doing it for me." Connor reminded him. "I should come and help."
"You stay here." Angel repeated himself. "No more questions about it."
Before Jess or Connor could get another word in, Angel had taken off into his office. Cordelia did not miss a beat, however, and was two steps behind him with Erin in her arms, closing the door when she got into the office.
"Angel, you're not going back to Wolfram and Hart." Cordelia told him, bouncing Erin in her arms.
"Cordy, I have to." Angel told her as he rummaged in his top drawer to find is favorite dagger. He quickly shoved it into the pocket of his coat.
"Why?" Cordelia asked him.
"Because." Angel sighed. "Connor's back."
"I know." Cordelia said, fighting back mixed tears of joy that her son was back, and worry that Angel was going to get killed. "Why can't we just be happy about that? Why do we need to know why he's back?"
"Because I need to know he's back for good." Angel told his wife, as he kissed her softly on the forehead.
"He knows you love him, Angel." Cordelia told her husband. "I can tell he does. You don't need to prove it to him by going over to that law firm and getting yourself killed over a copy of a contract that doesn't even matter anymore."
"Cordy, I need to do this for him." Angel told his wife. "I need to."
"And Jess and Erin and Connor need their father alive." Cordelia said in desperation. "Well as alive as you can be since you're a vampire and you're walking into a death trap by going over there. Wolfram and Hart is ready for you. They want us dead. You know that."
Angel nodded. "I also know I have to do this." He cupped Cordelia's face in his heads. "I promise I'll come back." He kissed her cheek, and then moved to her mouth, kissing her softly. "Trust me. I wouldn't leave you. Not ever."
Cordelia sighed, leaning into Angel as Erin began squirming around, grabbing at the collar of Angel's long coat. "Just be careful, Angel."
"I will. There's nothing to worry about." He assured her, pulling her closely. "I love you, Cordelia."
"I love you too." Cordelia told him.
He smiled down at her. "I'll be back." And with that he exited the office, rounding up Spike, Wesley, and Gunn and leading them out the door. He had told Cordelia not to worry about him, but the truth was, he wasn't exactly sure about going over to Wolfram and Hart, he just knew he had to do it. He had to do get a hold of that contract and they needed to figure it out because Connor needed them too. And Angel would do whatever he had to do to make sure Connor was okay. He refused to lose his son again.
Angel, Gunn, Wesley, and Spike slowly made their way around the back of Wolfram and Hart, standing outside of the door leading to the basement of the law firm. All of them looked up at the building they had previously worked at and cringed. The place looked a lot scarier now that they were no longer living there.
"So, plan?" Spike asked.
"Well, I was thinking we just break in and get to Gunn's office." Angel said, starring up at the building. "But on the way over here, I decided that was a bad plan."
"I'd say so." Gunn agreed. "So, what are we going to do?"
"What floor was your office on, Gunn?" Angel asked.
"The ninth." Gunn told him.
"Me and Spike can climb up there." Angel said.
"But what about us?" Wesley asked about him and Gunn.
"I'm sure they have detectors set up for vampires by the front doors like the old building had before we took it over. You guys won't set them off. Just be low key and try and meet us in Gunn's office." Angel told them.
"And what happens when someone recognizes us?" Wesley asked.
"You remember nights at this place, hardly anyone ever worked." Angel reminded him.
"Just enough people to get us recognized and killed." Wesley sighed.
"Look, Wes, either you are helping me or you aren't." Angel told him.
"Hey, no one else got that bloody choice." Spike interrupted, but did not continue when he saw the look of annoyance Angel shot in his direction.
"Let's just go do this." Gunn said.
"Thank you, Gunn." Angel smiled at his friend and glad someone was on his side about breaking into Wolfram and Hart.
"Fine, let's go." Wesley sighed, leading Gunn around to the front of the building.
"Ready?" Angel asked Spike.
Spike nodded, leaping up to a small ledge on the fourth floor of the building. Angel quickly followed the blonde vampire, preparing to break into the law firm.
Cordelia paced around the lobby nervously, bouncing Erin quickly in her arms, as Jess and Connor sat on the couch with a bored look on their faces as they watched their mother. Erin too seemed to have the same look of boredom as her older brother and sister as her mother moved swiftly around the lobby with her in her arms.
"I don't think I remember her pacing this much." Connor said to Jess about Cordelia.
"Yeah, she used to not worry like this." Jess agreed with Connor. "Maternal instincts kicked in full force with Erin, I guess."
"When was she born?" Connor asked his now younger sister. It was clear that Jessica's aging process was slowly down, if not stopping at his point, and Connor now looked about two years older then her.
"Who? Erin?" Jess said, curling her legs up closer to her chest as she made herself comfortable on the couch.
"Yeah." Connor nodded.
"A little over three months ago." Jess told him.
"I remember her being pregnant…" Connor nodded toward Cordelia.
"Yeah." Jess looked at her hands. "You…uh…left before she had Erin."
"I figured. I remember the baby at Wolfram and Hart." Connor smiled sadly. "At least I get to know Erin now."
Jess nodded, looking between her brother and sister.
"Anyone hungry?" Fred asked as she entered the lobby with a pizza pie box.
"Starving." Jess smiled at Fred, opening up the box and shoving half of a slice of pizza into her mouth.
"Nice." Connor smiled at his sister's full mouth. "Also, kinda gross."
Jess gave Connor a smug look, before glancing over to her mother to see Cordelia was still pacing with a worried look on her face. "Mom, why don't you come eat?"
"Huh?" Cordelia looked up, snapping out of the trance she was in.
"Eat." Jess said slowly. "Come over here and eat."
"I'm not hungry." Cordelia sighed.
"Come sit then." Jess stood, making a spot for Cordelia on the couch. "I think Erin is getting dizzy with all the pacing you're doing."
Cordelia looked down at Erin to see the child was starring up at her with big, hazel eyes that looked extremely bored. Cordelia ran a finger across Erin's cheek, only to find that the baby made no effort to grab her mother's finger, instead Erin's lip turned into a pout, and she let out a small cry. Clearly, she felt how worried her mother was, and it was starting to make her feel uneasy.
"Oh…Erin…sweetie…don't cry." Cordelia said gently, only to find her shaking voice made the baby cry more.
"Here." Connor stood, reaching out for Erin. "Let me take her. I'm a champ with babies. I used to watch my cousins all the time." Suddenly, Connor realized what he said and immediately went to fix it. "I mean…well not my cousins…my…well…my fake cousins?" Connor was unsure how to explain the people he was talking about. A few months ago they would have been the only family he had ever known, now he knew who his real family was, and he was so confused.
"We get it." Jess said quickly.
Erin continued to cry, and Cordelia sighed, taking the seat on the couch Jess had given up for her. "Erin, why are you crying, baby?" Cordelia asked the child knowing she could not get an answer from the baby.
"Here." Connor put his arms out again for his little sister. "Trust me." He looked up at Cordelia, contemplating whether he would use the next words that came out of his mouth. He decided he would, they were the truth after all. "Please, Mom?"
Cordelia felt a surge of joy rush through her body as she heard the name Connor had called her. She never thought she would hear that word come from his lips ever again for as long as she lived, and yet she had heard it. Suddenly, she felt a small smile break across her lips as she handed Erin to her older brother. "Just be careful with her."
"I won't drop her, I promise." Connor smiled at Cordelia and then down at Erin, who immediately was calm in her brother's arms.
"Wow, she never gets quiet that fast." Jess observed her little sister.
"She must think I'm dad." Connor said without any thought at all. He knew at some point he had been angry at his father, although now he couldn't remember why. He smiled down at the baby in his arms. "Hey, Erin. I'm your big brother, Connor. It's nice to finally meet you."
The baby cooed at her brother, and it took all the energy Cordelia had in her body for her not to start crying with joy as she watched her son and youngest daughter interact.
"Holy crumb cakes!" Lorne's voice filled the lobby, causing everyone in there to jump. "Connor! He's here!"
"We know." Fred told the demon.
"Why? Why's he here?" Lorne was confused.
"He remembers." Jess said simply.
"Remembers?" Lorne's voice squeaked. "As in he remembers trying to kill Cordelia, and now we are letting him hold Erin?" Lorne couldn't believe the scene in front of him.
"Lorne!" Cordelia was shocked the demon would say that, and for a moment, her thoughts were taken from worrying about Angel to being angry at the green demon in front of her.
Connor laughed, however, sporting the same rare smile Angel did every once in a while. "It's okay, Mom." He then handed Erin back to Cordelia and stood, nodding at Lorne. "To be real honest with you, everything is a blur. I can't remember details, or exact things, I just…I don't know what I remember."
Lorne raised his eyebrow, his eyes shooting back between Jess, Cordelia, and Fred.
"He's telling the truth, Lorne." Jess assured the demon. "Trust me."
"Last time we trusted you, we ended up running an evil law firm and getting our memories written over." Lorne said.
"True." Jess was getting sick of everyone blaming her for the whole Wolfram and Hart deal. They all didn't have to follow her; she had done what she had to. "But then again, you didn't seem to mind at the time."
Lorne went to say something, but decided against it, realizing that maybe it was time he let Jess off the hook a little. "I guess." He moved to the kitchen. "I need a drink, anyone else?"
"We're okay." Fred told him.
Lorne looked around the lobby, only then realizing just how quiet it was. "Where's everyone else?"
Angel and Spike silently and swiftly scaled the building of Wolfram and Hart, making their way around the edge of the ninth floor, until they found the window that belonged to Gunn's old office.
"This is it." Angel told Spike.
Spike nodded, looking into the dark office. "Now what do we do?"
Angel looked around the edge of the window, carefully taking in the design of it. "I bet we can get the glass free if we can manage to break the corners out." Angel said. "This glass looks like it just slides in and sits there."
"Well, that's bloody safe." Spike said.
Angel raised an eyebrow at Spike before going back to staring at the glass. "For some reason, I've got a feeling safety isn't the number one thing for this company."
Spike nodded. "I get that." He then moved to the opposite corner of the window from Angel. "Come on, let's get this thing out."
Angel nodded, and both vampire's began breaking off the corners of the window, they then carefully moved the window out of it's place, exposing the office.
"Hold the window while I go in." Angel said, handing the glass off to Spike.
Spike took the glass from Angel as the dark haired vampire slid into what had once been Gunn's office. The room was dark, but Angel's eyes needed no time to adjust. He quickly moved into the room, but jumped when he heard a loud, crashing noise.
"Sorry, mate." Spike apologized as he climbed into the office.
Angel turned to the other vampire, to realize Spike had dropped the window the nine floors down to the street. Angel quickly made his way over to the empty window and looked down at the shattered glass all over the steps of Wolfram and Hart.
"Well, that will cause some unwanted attention." Angel growled at Spike.
"Yeah, or it will cause some of the bloody security guards in here to run outside to see what happened instead of sitting around inside this place, possibly finding us." Spike explained why he had dropped the glass.
"Well, let's just hope Wes and Gunn get up here before any security." Angel sighed.
"Relax, relax." Gunn whispered as he and Wesley stepped out of a dark corner of the room. "We're already here."
"How'd you get up here so damn fast?" Spike asked.
"We used the elevator." Gunn told them.
"So you had no problem getting in here?" Angel asked.
"A slight problem." Wesley sighed. "So we need to get out of here fast."
"What slight problem?" Angel asked.
"Harmony." Wesley said, almost annoyed. "She saw us, waved to us, and Gunn decided to wave back to her."
"I forgot she's on the wrong side again." Gunn told Angel. "I mean, once she was bad, then she wasn't so bad, then she was working for us, now she isn't…it can get confusing."
"Well, the only thing helping us here is that Harmony is as dumb as they come." Spike said, remembering his old flame. "It could take her a couple of days to realize we aren't supposed to be in here."
"Or, a couple of minutes." Harmony's voice bellowed into the room as she flicked the lights on.
Angel, Spike, Wesley, and Gunn all looked up at the door to see Harmony standing there with about a dozen heavily armed security guards behind her, and Eve and Lindsey pushing their way through the crowd.
"Good work, Harmony." Lindsey told the blonde vampire.
"Thanks." Harmony smiled. "Its all part of the job." Then the vampire's expression changed as she looked over at Angel. "Wow, Angel! Did you get a haircut?"
Angel rolled his eyes as he pulled the small dagger out of his pocket, and looked at Wesley, Gunn, and Spike.
"Don't try anything stupid." Eve told Angel as two of the guards stepped forward. "We'll kill you before you even move an inch."
Angel then looked back at the window he and Spike had come in, trying to figure out a way to get out of the law firm without getting anyone killed. He realized then, just how trapped they were as about eight more heavily armed security guards climbed in the window. Angel, Wesley, Spike, and Gunn were surrounded.
Cordelia was sitting at the counter in the lobby, rocking Erin to sleep, with Fred next to her, and Lorne on the opposite side of the counter, drinking a sea breeze. All three of them were watching Jess and Connor who were sprawled out on opposite couches, both asleep, with the empty pizza box on the table between the couches.
"They must have been tired." Fred whispered about Jessica and Connor. "Jess never goes to bed this early."
"It is three in the morning." Lorne said, looking at his watch.
"It's just been a very long night for all of us." Cordelia sighed, looking down at Erin who seemed to agree with her mother as her tiny eyelids began to close. Cordelia then looked back up at Jessica and Connor. "I can't believe Connor's back."
Fred nodded. "Me either. And the way he is now. He's just so…"
"So happy." Lorne finished Fred's thought.
Fred nodded, looking at Cordelia, to find the immortal mother smiling at the sight of her two oldest children on the couch.
Suddenly, however, Cordelia's expression changed as her eyes went white, and she jolted back, causing Erin to cry, which in turn caused Jess and Connor to jump up from the couch.
"What's wrong?" Jess was on her feet in two seconds flat and was at her mother's side, as Cordelia's vision ended. "Mom? What happened? What did you see?"
"Oh no…" Cordelia's eyes began to fill with tears.
"What?" Jess asked again, as she took a clearly distressed Erin from her mother's arms, and handed the crying baby over to Connor. "Mom, what did you see?"
"They're in trouble." Cordelia was now walking over to the weapons cabinet, with Jess trailing behind her.
"Who is?" Jess asked. "Mom?" She grabbed Cordelia by the arm and pulled her toward her. "Mom, who's in trouble?"
"It's your dad." Cordelia said as fear began to rise in her voice. "And Spike and Gunn and Wesley."
"What's wrong with them?" Fred's eyes grew wide as thoughts of Wesley in danger began to race through her mind.
"They got caught." Jess seemed to know what Cordelia's vision had been about. "At Wolfram and Hart. They are in trouble there?"
Cordelia nodded slowly, as she remembered her vision and what Lindsey and Eve planned to do to Angel, Wesley, Gunn, and Spike, if no one got there to save them in time. Cordelia quickly dropped some stakes and a crossbow into her bag as she cursed Angel for not listening to her when she told him going over to Wolfram and Hart would be dangerous.
"What are you doing?" Jess asked her mother.
"Going to save your father." Cordelia said.
"What?" Jess shook her head as she reached out and took her mother's bag from her. "No, you're not. Me and Connor will go, you stay here with Erin."
"Yeah." Connor agreed, handing Erin off to Fred.
"No. Fred and Lorne can watch Erin." Cordelia tried to grab her bag back from Jessica. "You, Connor, and I are going over to Wolfram and Hart and saving your father and the other three idiots who willingly followed him over to that law firm."
"Mom, I don't think that's a great idea." Jess tried to reason with Cordelia. "You could get hurt, and Dad wouldn't want that."
"Yeah? Well, I didn't want your father going over to that law firm so too bad for him not wanting me to follow him there, and also, I can handle myself. I'm part demon, and I get visions, and I grew up on a hellmouth, not to mention the fact that I managed to push two beautiful little girls out." She gave Jess a tight smile as she pinched her daughter's cheek, in a way that made Jess realize she had just lost the argument with her mother. "I think it's far to say I'm tough enough to handle this. What do you think?"
Jess looked at Connor who looked back at his sister and then shrugged.
"She has a few good points." Connor said.
"Fine." Jess sighed, allowing Cordelia to take back her bag of weapons. "Let's move."
Cordelia nodded, quickly turning back to Fred and Lorne. "Erin should go back to sleep any minute, and she'll be good for at least three hours, okay?"
Fred nodded, looking down at Erin who was already asleep in her arms.
"Okay." Cordelia said, as she took a deep breath, and looked at Jess and Connor. "Come on." And with that she led her two oldest children out of the hotel Cordelia wasn't sure what she was going to do once they got over to Wolfram and Hart, but all she knew was that she had to save Angel, Gunn, Wesley, and Spike. She had just gotten Connor back, and she was not about to let another member of her family slip out of her grasp.