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 70Fred and Lorne sat in the lobby attempting to get Erin back to sleep. Lorne was singing to the small baby, but she continued to scream her lungs out. Erin had slept for three hours and was now wide-awake, clearly hungry.
"I wish Cordelia would come home soon." Fred said over Erin's cries. "Erin won't be quiet until she is fed."
"Shouldn't she be starting to eat solid food?" Lorne asked about Erin.
"A couple more weeks I think." Fred said, covering her ears as Erin's screams grew louder.
Suddenly the front door of the lobby swung open and Angel entered with a bleeding Jessica in his arms, followed by Cordelia, Connor, Wesley, Gunn, and Spike. Erin's cries seemed to immediately stop, as if the baby sensed the panic, confusion and concern filling the room. Lorne and Fred both quickly rose up from the couch.
"What happened?" Fred's eyes grew wide as Angel rushed Jessica over to the couch.
"Lindsey ran her through with a sword." Angel said hurriedly as he spoke of Jessica. "She's lost too much blood."
Fred and Lorne looked over at Jessica to see that her eyes were closed and she was breathing shallowly, somewhere on the verge of unconsciousness.
"What's going to happen to her?" Connor asked his father as he watched Cordelia rush over to Angel's side, gathering Jessica's limp hand in her own.
"I don't know, Connor." Angel said as calmly as he could, he then looked up at Spike. "Go get some blood from the kitchen. We need to get something into her."
"I don't know if we've got enough blood in that refrigerator to fill her back up." Spike said, only now realizing just how much blood Jessica had actually lost. He could sense it in the room now; it was one of his vampire strengths. He could tell when someone was dying, and he could tell now that Jessica was holding onto a thread at this point. He studied Angel for a moment, realizing that he too must have realized his daughter was dying.
"Then go get some more damn it!" Angel growled at the blonde vampire. "Just get me what's in there and then go get more!"
Spike nodded, quickly making his way into the kitchen.
Angel then turned his attention back to Jessica, applying as much pressure as he could to her stomach wound. "Jess? Stay with me okay? Jess?"
"Come on, baby." Cordelia said, squeezing Jessica's hand gently. "You're stronger then this, Jessica Lynn, you stay with us."
Just then Erin began crying again. Fred moved and picked the baby up. "I'll take her out of here." She then made her way into the kitchen.
Angel nodded, numbly, suddenly looking up at Wesley and Gunn. "Go get something to close this wound with."
"Like what?" Gunn asked. "We just moved back in here, we barely have anything."
"WHATEVER YOU CAN FIND, DAMN IT!" Angel snapped. "Whatever there is! I don't know! Just find something!"
Wesley and Gunn nodded taking off in different directions.
"Lorne, go help them!" Cordelia told the demon as she watched Jessica struggle for another breath.
Lorne immediately followed after Wesley. He would do whatever Cordelia or Angel asked him to do in order to save Jessica's life.
"What can I do?" Connor asked his parents.
"Go get Spike and see what the hell is taking him so damn long to get some blood out here!" Angel ordered, not meaning to sound as nasty to his son as he did.
Connor nodded, quickly going into the kitchen.
Cordelia's eyes darted all across Jessica's seemingly lifeless body. "I don't understand, why is Jess struggling to breathe? She doesn't even need to breathe, remember?"
Angel shook his head, putting more pressure on Jessica's wound. "I don't know. She might be too weak to control that."
"She's not too weak." Cordelia was in denial that she was losing her first born. "She'll get through this." Tears swelled in the immortal seers eyes. "She has too."
"This is all that was in the kitchen." Spike said, handing Angel two pints of blood as he entered the room with Connor who placed another pint on the floor next to Angel.
"That's it?" Angel was shocked.
Spike nodded, avoiding eye contact with the dark haired vampire. "That's it."
"It won't be enough." Cordelia said, panicking.
"It will have to do." Angel told her, as he handed the pint to Cordelia. "Get her to drink this."
Cordelia moved the pint to Jessica's mouth. "Jess…sweetie…drink this for mommy."
Jessica fought to open her eyes, all the color drained from her face, but somehow the young half-breed found it in herself to take small sips of the blood her mother was giving her.
"Keep going, Jess." Angel cheered his daughter on. "Keep drinking." He looked up at Spike. "Go see if you can get more blood from the butcher."
"The suns up." Spike pointed outside the window, as the sun was slowly rising. "I can't."
"I'll go." Lorne offered as he and Wesley entered back into the lobby. Wesley was carrying some blankets and Lorne had found some string and a needle.
"I'll go with him." Connor offered. He really couldn't do anything else to help, but he wanted to do whatever he could to make sure Jessica made it through.
"This is all we could find." Wesley said, as he and Lorne set down the materials they had found.
"It'll have to work." Angel sighed. "Lorne, Connor, go get that blood."
Lorne nodded, making his way out the front door with Connor tagging along behind him.
"Okay, so what's the plan?" Gunn asked, trying to avoid looking at the blood spilling out of Jessica. He had never seen a person bleed that much, and it was making him lightheaded.
Angel looked up at Cordelia, and then back to Jessica. "Cordy, go wash your hands."
"What? Why?" Cordelia seemed confused.
"Just do it." Angel told her as he watched her slowly get up and make her way to the bathroom. He then turned toward the kitchen door. "Fred? Come out here!"
Fred appeared a moment later with a much calmer Erin in her arms. "What?"
"Cordy is washing her hands and when she comes out she will take Erin. I need you to stitch while me and Spike hold Jess down." Angel told her.
Fred nodded, as Cordelia came back out of the bathroom. She handed Erin to the shaking mother and then took a seat next to Angel. "I don't know if I can do this, Angel."
Angel swallowed hard as he took a long look at Jessica. His daughter was dying. He could sense it. His eyes darted up to Spike. He saw the blonde vampire standing tensely over Jess. Spike could tell she was dying too. He needed Fred to at least try and save Jessica's life. She was the only one that could. "Fred, you can do this." He told her confidently, although he himself didn't fully believe his words.
"Are you sure, Angel?" Fred asked.
Angel nodded. "You can, Fred."
"You can do it, Fred." Wesley told his girlfriend. "I believe in you."
Fred nodded, moving the needle and thread toward Jessica's injury as Angel lifted his hands off his daughter's bloody stomach and moved them to her shoulders, holding her steady.
Cordelia could not watch as Fred put the first stitch in and Jessica didn't even flinch. Cordelia now realized just how dire Jessica's situation was. Jess wasn't moving a single muscle as Fred poked at her. Cordelia could see her daughter was getting weaker by the second. She looked down at Erin in her arms to see the child gazing at her mother with a heartbreaking look in her hazel eyes, as if she knew what was happening to her older sister.
Lorne and Connor made their way swiftly down the street to the butcher Angel got his blood supply from. They got to the backdoor which was usually where Angel would pick his blood up. Connor jumped up the back steps, knocking fiercely on the door.
No answer.
Connor knocked again, harder then the last time.
Again, no answer.
"What the hell?" Connor seemed to growl.
Lorne checked his wristwatch and sighed, realizing what time it was. "It's still really early. I can't even imagine the butcher being open at this time."
"Well, that's too bad!" Connor shot back at the demon. "Jess needs to get some blood in her or she will die!"
"I know." Lorne said. "I just don't know where else we can get some from."
Connor shook his head, looking down at his hands, and then he realized something. He quickly looked back up at Lorne. "I've got an idea."
"Well, I'm all ears." Lorne said.
"Good." Connor said, turning and leading Lorne back the way they came.
"Where are we going?" Lorne asked.
"Back to the hotel." Connor told him.
"We don't have any blood." Lorne reminded him.
Connor looked back down at his own wrists. "Yes we do." He then began running down the street, forcing Lorne to follow him.
Fred had finally finished stitching Jessica's stomach up. She let out a sigh, looking down at her shaking hands, covered in Jessica's blood. She then looked back up at Angel who was still holding Jessica's steady, and Cordelia, who was pacing nervously with Erin in her arms.
"We need to get her back done as well." Wesley said from his spot over Angel. "The sword went all the way through."
"Try and get some more blood in her first." Angel looked up at Spike and Gunn who were both standing near the last pint of blood.
"Here." Spike handed it to Angel who moved it to Jessica's mouth.
"Drink." Angel told his daughter.
Slowly Jessica's eyes opened, and she struggled to breathe. She took a sip, and then closed her eyes again; too weak to even speak anymore.
"Let's turn her over." Gunn said, moving to help Angel.
"Be careful with her." Cordelia's voice came out shaky.
Angel nodded to his wife, and then, with Gunn's help, turned Jessica over onto her back. Jess let out a small cry of pain, but it soon subsided as Fred began to stitch up the bloody whole in Jessica's back.
After about ten minutes, Fred was done stitching completely. She sighed, standing slowly. "She's all finished."
"Thank you, Fred." Angel told her as he moved Jessica back onto her back. "You should go get cleaned up." Angel pointed to Fred's blood-spattered hands.
Fred nodded slowly; as if she didn't believe her hands were so bloody. She then made her way into the bathroom.
Wesley sighed. "I should…" He pointed in the direction Fred had gone and then followed her, sensing something was wrong with his girlfriend.
Spike looked over at Gunn, then back down at Jessica, Angel, and over at Cordelia with Erin. Clearly, it looked as though the family could use some alone time, Spike thought. Especially if there was a chance Jessica wasn't going to come back from this, and by the look of her, Spike didn't think she would. He had seen dying people, he had seen dead people, hell he was dead, and Jess didn't looked right. Her coloring was gone, and Spike could sense she was holding on with every little bit of strength she had left, she was a fighter all right.
"Come on, Gunn." Spike patted Gunn on the back, motioning for the young man to follow him. "Let's let them be."
Gunn looked at Jessica, Angel, and Cordelia with Erin, and nodded, understanding what Spike meant. The family needed to be alone. He turned to Spike, and then led the blonde vampire into the kitchen.
Angel sighed, looking up as Cordelia took a step closer to him and Jess. Cordelia was shaking with Erin clinging to her. Angel could tell the events of the evening were all too much for Cordelia to take in. He watched her slide down onto the floor next to him, taking Jessica's hand into her free one that wasn't balancing Erin.
"She's going to be okay, Cordy." Angel tried to assure his wife, but it was hard to do when he himself wasn't sure. Jessica was in bad shape, and had finished all the blood they had in the kitchen; if Lorne and Connor didn't get back soon with more blood they would lose Jess for sure.
"Angel, I never realized how small she was." Cordelia starred down at Jessica. It was true, Jess stood maybe a total of five feet and four inches, if she had the right shoes on, which she never did since she lived in sneakers. With the color gone from her skin, Jessica's cheekbone and collarbone were both extremely defined. Cordelia never realized before just how tiny her oldest daughter was, and she didn't understand how such a petite girl could fight the way Jessica did. Then Cordelia remembered how Buffy was built, and realized that Jessica was built exactly the same way as the slayer.
"She's tough, Cordy." Angel told her, and he meant it. He had seen Jessica fight, he had seen his daughter lose people she cared about and carry on, he had seen her make sacrifices, and he knew how strong she was.
"Where's Connor and Lorne with the blood?" Cordelia asked the question as she stared down at Erin, who was shivering in her mother's arms. It was clear that the baby knew something was wrong.
"They'll be here soon." Angel said, hoping he was right. Connor and Lorne needed to get back quick, he decided as he watched Jessica fight against the unconsciousness forcing its way onto her body.
Wesley followed Fred into the bathroom, to find her scrubbing Jessica's blood feverishly off of her hands. She washed her skin until it was raw; as if she would never be able to get her hands fully clean again.
"Fred?" Wesley asked.
Fred didn't respond, she just continued to scrub her hands.
"Fred?" Wesley took a step forward, grabbing Fred's hands, and stopping her from cleaning them.
Fred looked down at her hands, and then up at Wesley, her eyes filling with tears. She was shaking as she fell into Wesley's arms. "I've never seen that much blood before."
"Jess is alright." Wesley told her as he held her close. "And you fixed her."
"I tried." Fred took a breath, and Wesley could tell she was about to go on one of her long tangents that she used to be famous for. She only did it now when she was nervous or upset. "I've never stitched someone up before. I read about it in books all the time, and from what I remember you pull everything tight and just stitch, so I did, I just stitched and stitched, but I'm pretty sure it can be considered a fact that if Jessica wasn't a demon she would have died already because the significance of her blood lose would have forced her body into shock…if she went into shock I wouldn't have been able to help her and then I would have let everyone down and…"
"Fred, shhh. It's alright." Wesley told her. "You did fine. She's okay."
Fred looked up at Wesley, her eyes big. "Wes, I think she's dying. If she doesn't get some blood into her soon, it's unavoidable. A blood loss like that…"
"That's why Connor and Lorne went to get more blood." Wesley reminded her. "Jess is going to be just fine, Fred." He pulled her closer to him, kissing her on her forehead.
Gunn sighed as he watched Spike pace around the kitchen. The blonde vampire's jaw was clenched and his hands were firmly dug into his pockets.
"You alright?" Gunn asked, already able to see that Spike wasn't.
"She's bloody dieing out there." Spike motioned to the living room as he spoke of Jessica. "And all we are doing is sitting in this damn hotel!"
"What do you want us to do?" Gunn asked.
"We should be going after the damn people who did this to her! We should be going after Wolfram and Hart!" Spike was full of rage. He couldn't believe what had happened to Jessica, and he swore to himself he was not about to lose her. She was too important to him, although he wasn't sure where she fit into his life anymore, or if he even fit in hers now. All the vampire knew was Jess meant something to him, and he would not let her die in vain.
"You don't think Angel's going to go after them?" Gunn asked. "He will. He just knows right now isn't the right time. If something does happen to Jessica, which it won't, he wants to be here."
"Jess isn't going to make it." Spike said, and as soon as the words came out of his mouth, he realized the weight of them, and immediately wanted to take them back, as if not saying them would stop him from thinking them.
"Yes she will." Gunn said. "I know she will. She's strong, I've known her since the damn day she was born and that girl has been through more in her short little life then most see in a lifetime. She'll make it through this. She has to…"
"Why?" Spike asked him, wanting to here Gunn's answer.
Gunn looked down at his hands. "Because I never got to really apologize to her for everything we all put her through the last few months. Everything I said to her…"
Spike nodded, understanding what Gunn meant. It was clear to the vampire that the man in front of him was struggling with his past actions. Spike sighed, leaning against the counter, and silently praying for Jessica to make it through. He laughed at himself. A vampire praying? Could there ever be anything more odd?
Connor made his way to the front door of the Hyperion Hotel with Lorne trailing close behind him. As Connor went to open the front door, Lorne knocked his hand away, pushing the young man to the side of the building.
"What are you doing? We don't have time for this." Connor said, trying to push past Lorne.
"We also don't have any blood." Lorne narrowed his eyes at Connor as if the demon knew exactly what the vampire spawn was going to do.
"We have blood." Connor said quickly.
"Connor, I know what you are planning to do, and believe me, it's heroic and all, but your…Angel, he won't let you." Lorne told the young man.
"You don't know what I'm going to do." Connor said.
"You think you can give Jess your blood." Lorne saw Connor look away as the demon exposed the vampire offspring's plan. "Angel won't let you."
"Dad won't have a choice." Connor said, and before Lorne could say another word, Connor made his way into the lobby to find Angel and Cordelia, who was still holding Erin, sitting on the floor next to Jessica who was laying on the couch, breathing very shallowly.
"You're back." Relief seemed to cross Cordelia's face as she stood, shifting a very quiet Erin in her arms. The baby had her little hands in fists and was keeping a close eye on her mother as Cordelia moved toward Connor and Lorne.
"We are." Lorne took a deep breath.
Cordelia searched both Connor and Lorne's hands only to find them empty, she then looked up at her son and the green demon. "Where's the blood?"
"We…we um…" Lorne started.
"The butcher wasn't opened yet." Connor said.
"What?" The color in Cordelia's face seemed to drain.
Angel stood, making his way over to Cordelia's side, and crossing his arms in front of his broad chest as he looked at Lorne and Connor. "What do you mean the butcher wasn't opened?"
"It's early, they weren't opened." Connor told his father.
"Jess needs blood." Cordelia was panicking. "We need to get blood in here or…" She couldn't finish her sentence as she looked down at Erin who was staring back up at her.
"She'll get blood." Connor said as he made his way past his parents and over to his sister.
Angel seemed to realize what his son was about to do, two seconds too late. He quickly turned on his heal to see Connor slap Jessica right across the face.
"Connor! No!" Angel said as he led Cordelia and Lorne around the couch to Jessica. "Connor, don't!"
Connor slapped Jessica again, causing her, even in her condition to vamp out, and once her fangs were bear Connor stuck his wrist in her mouth before anyone in the room could object.
Jessica drank from Connor's arm greedily, until she had enough blood in her to realize what she was doing. She tossed his arm away from her, morphing back into her human face. She was still weak, but much better then before.
Angel knew Jessica was coming around because of Connor's blood. Human blood could heal like no other. Regardless of what Angel wanted to believe, he knew the truth; Connor had just saved Jessica's life.
"What the hell are you doing?" Jess asked Connor weakly, as soon as she realized what she had just done. She had just drank from her own brother, his blood was the taste in her mouth, she wanted to throw up.
"Saving your life." Connor replied to her with a smile that matched the one Angel would flash occasionally.
"Jess?" Cordelia quickly made her way over to her oldest daughter, helping Jessica sit up with the one hand that she wasn't balancing Erin in. "You're alright!" She threw her arm around Jessica, pulling her tight. "You're alright!"
"It still hurts a little." Jess winced as Cordelia pulled her close.
"Sorry." Cordelia quickly released her daughter.
"You sure you're okay?" Angel asked, looking Jessica over to make sure she wasn't still bleeding.
"I'm fine." Jess assured him. She still felt a little weak but she would be all right.
"You should rest." Angel told her.
Jess did not argue, but instead just made herself comfortable on the couch which was even more indication that she still felt weak. Jessica never agreed with anything anyone told her to do, even if she knew they were right, but now she was willingly listening to her father's advice.
"I'll go make you something to eat." Cordelia said quickly, handing Erin off to Angel, and making her way into the kitchen.
Angel looked down at Erin who was staring tensely back up at him, and then over at Jess and Connor, and then Lorne. "Lorne, go get Wesley and Fred and tell them to meet us in the kitchen."
Lorne nodded, making his way down the hall.
Connor moved, to follow Angel into the kitchen, but was stopped short as Angel turned to face him. "Keep an eye on your sisters. Both of them." He handed Erin to Connor and then followed Cordelia into the kitchen.
Connor sighed, taking a seat on the couch opposite of Jessica and moving Erin so she was facing him. He looked over to see Jessica was sleeping again, and then he looked back at Erin. "So, Erin, this family is pretty crazy, huh?"
Erin smiled slightly at her older brother as she grabbed hold of his hand with her tiny little fist. Connor was surprised at how strong his baby sister was.
Lindsey made his way into what was now Eve's penthouse to find her in the kitchen, stirring a pot of soup. He moved toward her with a smile on his face, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Hey." Lindsey whispered into Eve's ear.
"Hey." Eve turned and kissed him. "How was the meeting?"
"You mean with the Senior Partners?" Lindsey smiled. "It went lovely."
"Did it?" Eve asked, smiling mischievously back at him.
Lindsey nodded. "They liked that we made the first move against Angel Investigations."
"You think he'll react to it?"
"Angel?"
Eve nodded.
"Of course he will." Lindsey assured her. "His family means more to him then his damn redemption and possible Shanshu. He will do whatever it takes to protect them."
"So, what's the plan then?" Eve asked.
"We wait." Lindsey told her. "We will attack us because of what I did to Jessica, and when he does The Powers That Be won't be able to cook up enough goodness to save their precious champion, or his family."
Eve nodded, understanding what Lindsey meant. She just wasn't sure if the Senior Partners had thought through their plan all the way. Angel would come after them, she was sure of that, especially if the wound Lindsey had given Jessica proved to be fatal, but would they really be able to stop him?
Angel entered the kitchen to find Cordelia busy over the stove, and Gunn and Spike standing by the counter. Before he could say anything to anyone in the room, Fred, Wesley, and Lorne walked in behind him, pushing past him to get into the room.
"Jess is okay." Angel said.
"Yeah, we heard." Gunn told him. "Let me tell you how much of a relief that is, man. I thought we were gonna lose her there for a second."
"I know." Angel said, moving to stop Cordelia's hands from working busily over the stove. Angel could tell she was just doing it to keep her mind off of what had happened to Jessica. It was part of her habit, when things overwhelmed her, she would do whatever it took to keep her mind off of them. He remembered how she used to clean his office until it shinned right after a bad vision. This was the same thing.
Cordelia looked up at Angel to see he knew what she was doing, she sighed, and turned leaning into him.
"We could have lost her, though." Angel said, wrapping his arms around Cordelia's firm stomach. "Because of them. Because of Lindsey. Because of Eve. Because of Wolfram and Hart."
"So, are we bloody taking them out?" Spike asked. He wanted to make them pay for what they did to Jessica. The fact that Jessica could have been taken from his life in a split second only made Spike realize more that he might have had something for her, only now he knew he had missed his chance.
"We are." Angel told them.
"Angel, I understand you're upset, but going after the Senior Partners is suicidal." Wesley warned the dark haired vampire.
"I know that." Angel said. "But we aren't going after Wolfram and Hart."
"But didn't you just say…" Fred started.
"We're going after Lindsey and Eve." Angel told her.
"Which is Wolfram and Hart…" Lorne raised an eyebrow, confused at where Angel was going.
"No. In that building they are Wolfram and Hart, but individually they are just two human beings." Angel said. "Who hurt my daughter."
"Angel…" Cordelia looked up at him, not liking where he was taking this conversation.
"The people who run Wolfram and Hart in this dimension die all the time, they are just people, replaceable." Angel told them. "And when they are gone, the Senior Partners will just replace them, and we will just keep fighting them."
"You're talking about killing two humans, you know that, right?" Cordelia looked at her husband, appalled. She agreed in punishing Lindsey and Eve for what they had done to Jessica, but killing them was an entirely different story.
"I know." Angel's eyes were cold and black as they burned into Cordelia. She could not remember the last time she had seen his eyes so dark and full of hate, and it scared her.
"Angel, before we do this we should take care of something else, first." Gunn said, hoping that if they could keep Angel's mind off of Lindsey and Eve long enough all of his rage would subside and he would begin to think straight. Gunn was angry and Lindsey and Eve too, but he knew killing them would solve nothing.
"What?" Angel asked.
Gunn held up a folded up sheet of paper from his pocket. "I didn't want to take this out right away, I mean, Jess was our first priority."
"What is it?" Angel asked.
"It's the contract from Wolfram and Hart that Jess signed about Connor." Gunn said. "You know, the one we went there for in the first place?"
"How did you get that?" Angel asked, taken back for a moment. "We got caught."
"Yeah, but me and Wes were in my office long before you and Spike arrived." Gunn reminded the vampire.
"We got it out before they came after us." Wesley told them. "We should probably look it over before we decide to make any move against Wolfram and Hart."
"Yeah, yeah." Angel nodded. "We should get on that."
Cordelia winked at Wesley, glad that the watcher and Gunn had been able to get Angel's mind away from Lindsey and Eve. She knew he really didn't want to kill them and that if he did, he would regret it in the long run. Right now she just wanted her family together, safe and sound, and that's exactly what they were. For the moment, anyway. She sighed, realizing that the moment wouldn't last long.