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 74Cordelia paced around the lobby, bouncing Erin in her arms. Erin seemed bored with her mother, but Cordelia seemed worried.
"I never should have let them go." Cordelia shook her head, as she spoke about her husband, two older children, and Spike. "I mean, Wolfram and Hart…what was I thinking? Jessica's plans are always dangerous and never thought through all the way, and I let them follow one of her plans."
"Cordy, stop." Fred looked up from the mound of books she was sitting with at the counter. Wesley had given her a stack to look through before he and Lorne had gone into his office to make some phone calls. "There's nothing to be worried about."
"Yeah." Gunn agreed from his spot on the couch. "Angel will keep everybody safe, they will get the information they need and they'll be back here just in time for us to go back out and patrol."
"Gunn…" Cordelia narrowed her eyes at him. "Every single time we goes near Wolfram and Hart one of us ends up hurt."
"Yeah, but I doubt that law firms biggest concern now is us, I mean, they've got this whole blocking the sun out thing that they did, plus whatever else they have up their sleeves." Gunn said.
"And Angel and everyone will be back here soon, Cordelia." Fred assured the immortal seer.
"Yeah, and if not, we'll go look for them." Gunn said. "And if we find them, and they're dead, we'll run like hell outta L.A., because there ain't no way in hell we can take Wolfram and Hart on without them."
Cordelia's eyes grew big as a look of shock fell over her face from what Gunn had just said. Her family wasn't going to die.
Fred could see the concern on Cordelia's face because of Gunn's words. "Gunn." She warned.
"What? I was just kidding." Gunn shrugged. "Just thought we could use a little humor around here."
"That wasn't funny." Cordelia glared at him as she felt Erin's little hand grab her neck. She looked down at Erin to see the baby staring out the window. "What are you looking at, sweetie?" Cordelia followed Erin's eyes to the window, where she saw two vampires standing in the darkness, grinning in at the group in the lobby.
"Damn it!" Cordelia quickly handed Erin to Fred and grabbed two stakes Jess had thrown on the floor earlier that night.
"Cordy? What?" Gunn got up quickly, following Cordelia out the front door of the lobby.
Once Cordelia was out in the courtyard she immediately found the two vampires who had been staring in at her and her family. "What the hell are you doing out here?" Cordelia asked.
The vampires smiled at one another, and then ran toward Cordelia. Cordelia was taken down by the force of the two demons, but Gunn came out, picking one of the vampires up and throwing him against the wall. Cordelia struggled for a moment under the other vampire's grasp, but, using her demon strength, managed to get her stake between herself and the vampire, turning him to dust right on top of her.
"Gunn!" Cordelia tossed the stake in her hand to her friend.
"Thanks." Gunn smiled at her, as he staked the vampire he had pinned against the wall.
When both vampires were dust, Gunn brushed himself off. "We should get back inside."
Cordelia nodded, taking another look around the garden before following Gunn back inside. When they entered the lobby, Wesley, Lorne, and Fred, who was holding Erin, were all standing at the base of the stairs.
"What just happened?" Fred asked.
"Vampires." Cordelia said, as she moved to take Erin out of Fred's arms. Once Erin was in her mother's arms she snuggled very close to Cordelia rubbing her own eyes with her hands. The baby looked tired.
"What did they want?" Wesley asked.
"We didn't ask." Gunn said. "We just kinda staked them."
"I think we need to secure this place." Cordelia said as she moved to the stairs. "The vampires and demons know that we are here, they will start attacking soon."
"Where are you going, princess?" Lorne asked Cordelia.
"I'm going to go lay down with Erin for a little. We both are tired." Cordelia said. "Try and figure out how to keep this place safe in the mean time, and if Angel and everyone gets back, send them upstairs."
"Sure thing, sweetie." Lorne said warmly as they watched Cordelia walk up the stairs. The minute they heard her and Angel's bedroom door close, Lorne turned back to the group, a nervous look on her face. "She's worried sick, her aura is screaming it. We need to figure out how to get this place secure and Angel needs to get back here soon, or she might lose it."
Wesley nodded, in agreement. He too could tell Cordelia was concerned. "Let's start working."
Angel, Jess, Connor, and Spike stopped right under the hatch that led up to Wolfram and Hart's basement. They all looked at each other, and could tell every single one of them was nervous.
"Okay, so the plan is we get up there, stick together, and somehow get into the room they keep the logs without anyone seeing us." Angel said.
"Shouldn't be hard at all…" Connor said sarcastically.
"We'll be alright." Spike said, as he opened up the hatch. "Come on, everyone up."
"I'll go first." Jess offered as she used her vampire abilities she had inherited from her father to make one clean jump up through the hatch.
"Right." Angel said, jumping through as well, followed by Spike and Connor.
Once Spike, Angel, Jess, and Connor were in the basement, they silently made their way up the stairs to the door that led to the lobby. Angel stopped them all at the door, however.
"We need to be careful. Move swiftly through the lobby and even if someone sees you, whatever you do, don't stop moving. We need to get what we came for and get back to the hotel. Understood?" Angel asked.
Everyone nodded.
"Good." Angel took an unneeded breath, going to open the door.
"Wait, Dad." Jess said, knocking Angel's hand from the doorknob. "We need to know before we go up there."
"Know what?" Angel asked, afraid he already knew his daughter's question.
"What if one of us gets caught?" Jess asked.
Angel sighed, that was the question he was afraid of. "If that happens…" Angel took another deep unneeded breath. He couldn't finish his sentence.
"We don't worry about it." Connor finished his father's sentence for him. "One of us gets caught, the rest of us keep going. We can't all die in here. Someone needs to make it back to the hotel."
Angel nodded, sadly. "Yeah."
"Okay, well now that we've got that down, let's go." Spike said, carefully opening the door that led from the basement to the lobby of the law firm.
The lobby of Wolfram and Hart was dark and empty, except for a small light over Harmony's desk.
"What the hell?" Spike whispered.
"Looks like the firm wanted to get its employees out of the city as well." Angel whispered back. "This place is empty."
Suddenly, Eve's voice filled the lobby as it came in over the intercom. "HARMONY! OUR DINNER WAS SUPPOSED TO BE UP IN MY OFFICE AN HOUR AGO!"
Immediately, Harmony came running out from the cafeteria, causing Angel, Jessica, Spike, and Connor to duck down for a moment, out of Harmony's line of sight.
"Sorry boss! I'll bring it right up to you and Lindsey!" Harmony said to the intercom as she picked up the bags of food that had been dropped off for Lindsey and Eve. The vampire then made her way onto the elevator, which she took up to the fifth floor.
"So, not everyone is gone after all." Connor said.
"No, Lindsey and Eve and Harmony are still around." Angel said.
"So the Senior Partners left the dumb and the dead to run this place." Spike said about Lindsey, Eve, and Harmony.
"Well, the good news is that we can probably make it down to the room the logs are kept in without being detected." Jess said.
"Right. Let's move." Angel said as he led Jessica, Connor, and Spike down one of the dark hallways that had been made even darker because of the fact that the sun had been blocked out completely.
Cordelia placed Erin gently down on her and Angel's bed, and then climbed on next to her daughter. Erin grabbed for Cordelia who pulled the child much closer to her. Cordelia was tired and worried at the same time, which seemed to make for a bad combination. She wanted to rest so she would be ready to help research and fight, if she had too, but she was also too worried about Angel and her older children over at Wolfram and Hart and about demons and vampires trying to get into the hotel.
After a moment, Cordelia sighed, tracing lines over Erin's face. "So, Mommy can't sleep baby, how about you?"
Erin swatted Cordelia's hand away from her face as if to tell her mother that she was indeed tired and ready for a nap.
Cordelia looked at her watch and realized it was already eight at night. No wonder Erin was tired already. Cordelia had seemed to lose track of time the minute the sky went black. It was hard to tell if it was day or night when it was always dark out.
Cordelia sighed again, looking over at a now sleeping Erin. The immortal mother decided she should try and get some sleep too, so she closed her eyes and snuggled next to Erin, trying to relax.
Lorne, Wesley, Gunn, and Fred all sat at the counter in the lobby, trying to think of a way to secure the hotel from any demons or vampires that wanted in. So far, none of them had come up with any great ideas.
"We could always just lock all the doors and put guards on duty." Gunn suggested. "Not the best plan, but it still might work."
"Yes, until the demons and vampires decide to break the windows and come in that way." Wesley motioned to all the windows in the lobby alone.
"Well, does anyone else have an idea?" Fred yawned. "Because I don't."
"What about a spell?" Wesley turned to Lorne. "Like the one you put on this place when Angelus was around."
"Well, that could definitely work." Lorne smiled. "Why didn't we think of it earlier?"
"Because we are tired, and being stupid." Gunn said. "That spell worked good."
"Can you put it on here again, Lorne?" Fred asked, hopeful.
"Sure. I actually might have left over ingredients from the last time we used it." Lorne stood. "I should get on that."
Fred nodded. "It will make Cordy happy, at least it gives her one less thing to worry about."
Wesley agreed, pulling Fred close to him and planting a kiss on her forehead.
Eve and Lindsey sat in Eve's office, eating the dinner Harmony had dropped off for them, and watching the news. So far, the only story on any news station was how L.A. had fallen into pandemonium.
"This is great." Lindsey smiled at Eve as he turned off the T.V. "L.A. is going under."
"And I can only imagine how weak Angel Investigations is becoming." Eve grinned back.
"How much longer till the Senior Partners get the rest of this plan rolling?" Lindsey asked, anxious to find out when they were going after Angel and his family full force.
"Not much." Eve told him. "The Senior Partner's really want to smash any hope Angel Investigations has of saving L.A. before we really go after them. We want them to lose their confidence in themselves and one another, and at the rate things are going, it won't take long for that to happen."
Lindsey raised an eyebrow. He knew Angel better then Eve and probably better then the Senior Partner's and faith was not something Angel lost easily. "You really think that will happen?"
"Its human nature." Eve said simply.
"Most of the people at Angel Investigations are not human." Lindsey reminded her.
"But they all have a part of humanity in them." Eve told him. "Trust me, they will lose hope, and then confidence, and then they will lose their loyalty toward one another. And that's when we attack them, when they realize that they have nothing to fight for, that they will lose no matter what they do."
Lindsey nodded after a moment, kissing Eve on the forehead. He hoped his girlfriend was right about Angel Investigations. He hoped they would fall as easily as she said they would, he just wasn't sure how realistic that was to wish for.
Jess led Angel, Spike, and Connor down one of the pitch-black hallways of Wolfram and Hart. She knew the room that the logs were kept in was somewhere on the third floor, but she wasn't sure which room, and it was hard to tell the doors apart in the dark.
"I think this is it." Jess stopped in front of one of the doors.
"Are you sure?" Angel asked his daughter.
Jess shook her head. "Not really, but lets give it a try." She opened the door.
Connor stepped into the room, turning the lights on to reveal a room full of cabinets and computers. "This looks like the place."
"Sure does." Angel said. "Spike, you and Jess check the computers, me and Connor will check the files."
"Sounds good." Spike said as Jessica led him over toward the computers.
Jess sat down at the computer desk. "I'm not sure which file to open."
"Try them all." Angel said from behind her as he and Connor went through the filing cabinets.
"It says there's over thirty thousand files for this year alone." Spike told Angel. "That's a lot of bloody orders coming from the Senior Partners."
"Well, keep looking." Angel sighed. He had a feeling they were going to be spending a large amount of time in that particular room.
Cordelia descended the stairs of the lobby with a babbling Erin in her arms. The mother and daughter had slept for about three hours and were now both rested. When Cordelia entered the lobby she found Wesley and Fred sitting at the counter, and Lorne and Gunn on the couches.
"Angel back yet?" Cordelia asked.
The rest of the group looked at each other, none of them wanting to tell Cordelia that her husband and children, plus Spike, were not back yet. After all, Angel, Jess, Spike, and Connor had left over five hours ago, and everyone in the lobby was starting to worry about their safety over at Wolfram and Hart.
Finally, Wesley spoke up. "I'm sure they will be back soon, Cordelia, not to worry."
"They aren't back…" Cordelia's eyes grew wide. "What if something happened?"
"Nothing happened." Fred tried to assure the ex-cheerleader.
"You don't know that." Cordelia told her as Erin grabbed at a piece of Cordelia's hair that had fallen out of its ponytail.
"Cordy, Angel's got everything under control." Gunn told her. "He knows what he's doing."
"Maybe I should call them." Cordelia moved to the phone.
"Bad idea, sugar pie." Lorne cut Cordelia off. "If they are half as smart as I know your family is, none of them have their phones on right now."
"Yeah, they don't want to draw any unwanted attention…like a phone ringing." Gunn said.
"Right…" Cordelia nodded, realizing how stupid her idea had been. Of coarse Jess, Angel, or Connor wouldn't pick their phones up. Not while they were trying to sneak around Wolfram and Hart. Cordelia sighed, taking a seat on the couch next to Gunn and shifting Erin in her arms. "I just feel so helpless right now. I mean, we can't do anything about the permanent darkness." She pointed out to the sunless sky. "Or all the vampires and demons out on the streets and Angel and my kids are over at a law firm that wants us all dead, and I'm just sitting here…"
"Cordelia, we are all doing the best we can right now." Wesley assured her. "We can't do much more until we know Wolfram and Harts' plan."
"Well, I hope we figure it out soon." Cordelia said as she felt Erin grab onto her hand and give it a strong squeeze for a five month old. Cordelia looked down to see her daughter smiling gently back up at her. Erin's calming grin seemed to cause Cordelia to relax a little.
Jess sat at the computer in Wolfram and Hart while Spike, Connor, and Angel all stood over her shoulder eagerly. After looking through the files Angel and Connor realized that any information coming from the Senior Partner's was routed straight to the database on the computer, which was exactly what Jess was looking through.
"Anything yet?" Spike asked anxiously.
"No…" Jessica's eyes searched the screen. "Wait…here!" She pointed to the file that was labeled with the exact day and time the sun went out. "I think we got a match boys." She gave her father the devilish grin she had possessed since she was born.
"Open it up." Angel told his daughter.
Jess nodded, opening the file up and quickly reading it. Angel picked up on the uneasiness coming from his daughter the minute she began reading the screen. "What is it, Jess? What's wrong?"
Jess slowly pointed to the screen in front of her. "Look…it's when the Senior Partner's gave the go for blocking out the sun…look what it's called."
Angel read the file his daughter was pointing to, fright clutching his own stomach. "Operation eliminate Angel Investigations…" Angel read the name of the file.
"Catchy title." Spike raised an eyebrow at the label of the file.
"We should print this stuff out. Whatever's in the file print it. Obviously they are coming after us. That's what this is all about. The title alone says that much." Connor said.
"Yeah, we can analyze it back at the hotel." Angel agreed. "We don't have time to do it here."
"Let me print it." Jess moved to print the information, but the minute she hit the print button the emergency alarm in the building went off.
"They know we're here!" Connor said.
"Security." Jess panicked, gathering all the paper she had printed out of the printer. "All the systems are intertwined. Lindsey and Eve must have set them so any operation done in any part of this building triggers the alarm."
"They expected us to show up…" Angel pieced together.
"Damn right we did." Lindsey said, from his spot at the doorway with Eve standing next to him. Both lawyers held up two crossbows each, all aimed at Angel, Jessica, Connor and Spike.
Angel, Jess, Connor, and Spike all looked at each other, their eyes wide. How were they all going to make it out of this one?